The European Union (EU) placed an embargo on most Russian oil imports on Friday and removed Russia’s Sberbank from the global SWIFT messaging system. The EU also froze President Vladimir Putin’s alleged lover Alina Kabaeva’s assets and placed her on a travel restriction blacklist, along with Russian Army personnel suspected of war crimes in Ukraine’s Bucha.
By the end of the year, the EU plans to prohibit 90% of Russian oil imports. The action comes after OPEC+ countries resolved to increase oil output in July, despite rising oil prices. Despite the EU’s censure, Serbia announced a three-year natural gas agreement with Russia despite the ban on Russian oil. Russia has previously halted gas shipments to Finland due to the country’s refusal to pay in dollars, while Russia insisted on being paid in roubles.
Meanwhile, Russia has continued to blame Western countries for the food crisis, claiming that the Black Sea has been severely mined, causing Ukrainian wheat supplies to become trapped at ports. Russia and Ukraine are the world’s top wheat suppliers. On Friday, the Ukrainian conflict entered its hundredth day, as Russian soldiers advanced in eastern Donbas. Although President Zelensky said that ‘success will be ours,’ the president admitted that Russia has lost at least 20% of its land since the invasion began on February 24.
Despite the heavy bombing, Ukraine claims it has engaged Russian soldiers in Severodonetsk city. As Russian forces pressed forward, the Biden administration announced that it would deliver sophisticated missile launch systems to Ukraine. In the most recent sanctions, the US blacklisted a Monaco firm that sells luxury boats to Russia’s wealthy, as Western nations continued to hammer Putin’s dictatorship.
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