EU sanctions on Russian diesel fuel to take effect in January – Bloomberg
21 July 2025 15:50
As it turned out, new measures from the European Union aimed at limiting the flow of fuel produced from Russian oil will come into effect only in January. This was reported by Bloomberg, according to "Komersant Ukrainian"
In legal documents published over the weekend, the EU said that the ban will take effect on January 21 next year. This follows Friday’s announcement that the EU plans to impose a ban on imports of petroleum products, including diesel fuel, produced in third countries using Russian oil.
This measure effectively bans one of the main ways to circumvent sanctions against Russian supplies. After the restrictions were imposed, major buyers of Russian oil, such as India, were able to refine crude oil bought cheaply from Russia and then sell the resulting fuel to Europe.
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Markets like it
The news somewhat eased concerns about a possible shortage in an already tight diesel market. The premium of diesel futures over crude oil declined on Monday following the announcement.
“The EU has given the diesel markets a bit of breathing room with the last-minute announcement of a six-month transition period for imports of Russian oil products sourced from third countries,”
– said Florence Schmitt, analyst at Rabobank.
According to her, the delayed application means that additional tension in the supply of diesel fuel will occur at a time when oil markets are expected to be oversupplied, which may limit the impact of the sanctions.
How the EU is “helping” Ukraine
At the Munich Security Conference, the United States made it clear to the European Union that Europe’s security is its own problem. After that, the rhetoric of European officials for several days was filled with loud statements that it was time for Europe to wake up and finally start taking care of its own security.
In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, European leaders were racing to generate ideas about how they would support Ukraine and how they would help it achieve a just peace. They talked about peacekeepers (who would be in the rear), about closing the skies over Ukraine with British aircraft, about Taurus missiles, and even about the fact that a significant part of the planned 800 billion-dollar EU defense package would go to Ukraine.
A common position on peacekeepers was not reached, talks about Taurus missiles stopped, and meanwhile the EU is making decisions and taking actions that can hardly be called helping Ukraine defend Europe.
Just a few days after the Munich conference, it turned out that Belgium would hand over 30 F-16s to Ukraine not by the end of 2025, as planned and promised, but by the end of 2028. The reason was announced: The United States is delaying the delivery of F-35s, which are supposed to replace the F-16s in the Belgian military fleet. 30 F-16s are a significant number, and they could significantly improve Ukraine’s position in the sky, including a very significant boost to its air defense system. Now Ukraine cannot count on these aircraft until 2028.
Later, it turned out that the approved 800 billion euro defense package for Ukraine did not include anything special. It only mentions that Ukrainian defense companies are part of the same “pool” as European ones, and therefore the purchase of weapons from them is a priority along with EU companies.
At the same time, it turned out that during the third year of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the EU spent more money on Russian fossil fuels than on financial assistance to Ukraine. During this time, the EU bought 21.9 billion euros worth of Russian oil and gas. This amount is one-sixth higher than the 18.7 billion euros that the EU has allocated to Ukraine as financial aid in 2024.
There will be no more preferential trade regime either.
the 18th package of sanctions announced by the EU the day before was hastily called one of the most powerful in history by European officials.
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