Key European Union nations have been unsuccessful in persuading the US and several other European countries to reduce the Russian oil price cap from $60 to $45 per barrel, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.
The European Commission, along with Germany, France, and Italy, is pushing to include this measure in the 18th sanctions package. However, support for the move is not unanimous among other EU members and G7 allies. During last week’s G7 finance ministers meeting, the Canadian chair suggested adding the price cap reduction to a joint statement, but the US opposed it, preventing consensus on the declaration.
Previously, Germany revealed that discussions with the US regarding efforts to counter Russia’s evasion of sanctions have stalled. An internal German Foreign Ministry report, reviewed by Süddeutsche Zeitung, highlights this failure.
The document quotes the head of the EU sanctions committee, David O’Sullivan, expressing his frustration at the “complete collapse of transatlantic coordination on sanctions evasion.” It notes that there are no longer any “joint contacts” and that cooperation within the G7 on this issue has “lost momentum.”
Given these developments, the newspaper questions how Europeans and Americans plan to finalize another sanctions package.
“Especially since some experts believe that Trump would prefer to resume cooperation with Russia as soon as possible,” the article says.
