Russian aluminum products are among the goods in the spotlight for the next package of EU sanctions against Russia, but there are significant sectors, such as nuclear energy or LNG, that are "off limits," Politico reports, citing EU diplomats, UNN writes.
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"The aluminum smelting process requires huge amounts of electricity, with energy prices accounting for up to 40 percent of production costs. Thus, imposing sanctions on Russian aluminum is another way to impose sanctions on the Russian energy industry," the newspaper writes.
According to one diplomat, the countries will soon begin discussing "additional elements that will eventually lead to a proposal for a complete ban.
According to European Aluminium, a trade organization representing EU producers and advocating for stricter import restrictions on Russian suppliers, previous sanctions packages have left about 85% of Russian exports to the EU untouched.
The countries hope to agree on a package before the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine next month. "We think it would be a good idea to prepare this package on the eve of the second anniversary of the war," the second EU diplomat said.
The biggest problem is said to be that "all major facilities are already under sanctions," said a third senior EU diplomat, "or other major facilities like nuclear or LNG are not available.
The publication points out that Hungary and other eastern EU countries have opposed sanctions on the Russian nuclear sector, and that Russia's Rosatom is currently building two new reactors for Hungary. Meanwhile, many EU countries, including Germany, opposed sanctions on Russian liquefied natural gas. According to the Bruegel think tank, while Germany has reduced its consumption of Russian gas to 4 percent, other countries have increased their consumption.
Reportedly, "Spain tops the list of the largest importers of Russian gas to the EU (the country re-exports part of the gas to other countries of the Union)." In fact, last year Spain significantly increased its consumption of Russian LNG compared to 2022.