COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Greenpeace activists on Wednesday swam in front of a vast Russian oil tanker in the Baltic Sea protesting against imports of Russian oil into the EU, which the environmental group says finance the war in Ukraine.
The European Union and its allies have imposed hefty sanctions against Russia, including freezing its central bank’s assets, but oil and natural gas were not included.
“In week four of Putin’s war, there are still ships arriving into Europe from Russia, carrying oil that is financing Putin’s war in Ukraine,” Greenpeace said in a statement.
It urged EU lawmakers to unite on a ban during upcoming summits on Thursday, when U.S. President Joe Biden will be in Brussels for talks with transatlantic alliance NATO’s 30 members, the EU, and Group of Seven (G7) members including Japan, designed to harden the West’s response to Moscow.
EU foreign ministers disagreed on Monday on whether and how to slap sanctions on Russia’s lucrative energy sector over its invasion of Ukraine.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
