TIRANA, Albania — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that the European Union is working on a major package of new sanctions against the Kremlin with talks between Russia and Ukraine looking unlikely to yield progress.
“We want peace and we have to apply pressure,” she told reporters as she arrived at a summit of the European Political Community in the Albanian capital of Tirana.
Von der Leyen said the EU is considering sanctions that are more ambitious than a new round of measures adopted on Wednesday. She proposed targeting the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines linking Russia to Europe, Russia’s banking sector and the so-called shadow fleet of aging vessels with obscure ownership and unknown insurance that Moscow uses to skirt oil sanctions.
The head of the EU executive also said the Commission would look to lower the oil price cap, a limit on the sales price for Russian crude oil which is decided at the G7 level.
