EU countries will be able to purchase 275,000 tons of aluminum from Russia for a year before a full ban on its imports comes into effect in the new package of sanctions, Bloombergreported citing a document seen by the agency, News.az reports.
The import volume quotas would be managed by member states and the European Union’s executive arm, the report said. It is planned to fully ban import of Russian aluminum a year after the system of quotas starts to work. There have been calls for the EU to ban Russian aluminum ever since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, but some member states have resisted such measures up to now, on the grounds that some key products will be hard to replace in full, the agency wrote.The EU imported about 320,000 tons of unwrought aluminum from Russia in the first 11 months of 2024, accounting for 6% of total imports, Bloomberg said citing UN Comtrade data.
The European Politico edition said earlier citing sources that the European Commission would officially present the draft 16th package of anti-Russia sanctions to the EU authorities later in the day. New restrictions would not include a complete ban on imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia, and they will only affect LNG receiving terminals that are not connected to the EU's gas distribution system. As a result, the sanctions will not affect most Russian LNG imports, the publication said.
