Kallas called energy the main component of the 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia

The energy sector will become the main component of the 18th package of sanctions against Russia being developed in the European Union (EU). This was stated by Kaya Kallas to the EU diplomacy on May 20 following a meeting in Brussels of the heads of the Foreign and defense ministries of the community countries.

"The strongest side of this package [of sanctions] is, of course, energy, and the gap in oil prices," she said in a speech broadcast on the website of the audiovisual service of the European Commission (EC).

According to her, restrictions in the banking sector and sanctions against Nord Streams are also being discussed. Kallas stressed that the EU countries intend to "put more pressure on Russia."

Package by package: The EU is determined to stop all trade with Russia

Experts assessed the likelihood of a radical scenario with the severance of trade ties.

Earlier in the day, the foreign ministers of the EU countries approved the 17th package of sanctions against Russia. According to the head of EU diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, it affected about 200 vessels of the shadow fleet, which in Brussels are associated with the Russian Federation. The head of diplomacy also added that "new sanctions are already being developed."

Stanislav Naumov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, told Izvestia that sanctions against Russia are a tool of complacency for the European Union (EU). He recalled that countries that faced sanctions policies from other states reacted appropriately to the measures: they symmetrically imposed retaliatory sanctions or adapted, building a new system of interaction with other participants in the global economy.