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Poland urges EU to slap sanctions on Russian oil and gas

Published:Monday | May 2, 2022 | 1:00 PM
Tanks for producing biogas are pictured at the harbour in Hamburg, Germany, on April 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Poland urged its European Union partners on Monday to unite and impose sweeping sanctions on Russia's oil and natural gas sectors over the war in Ukraine and not to cave in to pressure to pay for their gas in Russian rubles.

The appeal came as EU ministers met in Brussels to discuss their response to Russia's decision last week to cut gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland. Energy giant Gazprom says the two countries failed to pay their bills in April.

“We will call for immediate sanctions on Russian oil and gas. This is the next, and urgent, and absolute step,” Polish Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa said.

“We already have coal. Now it's time for oil, and (the) second step is for gas. The best option is take them all together.”

The EU has hit Russian officials, oligarchs, banks, companies and other organisations with rafts of sanctions since Moscow ordered an invasion of Ukraine in February.

The commission is working on a sixth round of measures, possibly including oil restrictions, and could announce them this week.

The measures would have to be approved by the member countries, which could take several days.

In a move last week branded in Europe as “blackmail,” Russian energy giant Gazprom cut supplies to Bulgaria and Poland. It came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “unfriendly” countries must start paying for gas in rubles, Russia's currency.

Bulgaria and Poland have refused to do so, like most EU countries. More Gazprom bills are due on May 20, and the bloc is wary that Russia might turn off more taps then. Russia rejects the claims of blackmail.

Both countries informed the ministers that consumers and industry face no immediate supply risk.

EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson warned that Gazprom's action “clearly shows that they are not reliable suppliers and that means all the member states have to have plans in place for full disruption” to their supplies.

The 27-nation EU imports around 40% of the gas it consumes from Russia. 

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