BRUSSELS: Representatives of European Union countries failed on Friday to approve a 15th package of sanctions on Russia, which included an extension for the Czech Republic to import Russian oil-based products coming mainly through Slovakia, diplomats said.
Two member states blocked the passage over a disagreement about extending the time given to European companies disinvesting from Russia, diplomats said. EU members will come back to the package later.
The package also includes sanctions on tankers carrying Russian oil.
Within the package was a debate on extending an EU exemption allowing the Czechs to continue importing diesel and other products derived from Russian oil and made in a Slovak refinery.
While the Czechs have said they were not looking for an extension allowing the import of Russian oil-based fuels, Slovakia has sought to keep the arrangement, which expired on Thursday, in place.
Slovak refiner Slovnaft, owned by Hungary’s MOL , is a significant exporter of diesel made from Russian oil to the Czech Republic. Czech officials have said an extension for six months could be accepted.
The 27-nation EU banned most oil imports from Russia after the country’s full-scale
invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary gained exemptions to sanctions because of a lack of other supply.
However, the Czech Republic has been upgrading a pipeline from Italy to Germany to transport more oil that way and wean itself completely off Russian crude by the second half of 2025.
EU envoys fail to agree 15th package of sanctions on Russia, diplomats say
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EU envoys fail to agree 15th package of sanctions on Russia, diplomats say
- Two member states blocked the passage over a disagreement about extending the time given to European companies disinvesting from Russia, diplomats said
- EU members will come back to the package later
Protesters try to attack driver after truck speeds through anti-Iran demonstration in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with marchers demonstrating in support of the Iranian people, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver.
The U-Haul truck, with its side mirrors shattered, was stopped several blocks away and surrounded by police cars. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed officers keeping the crowd at bay as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
The police department confirmed its officers were on the scene but didn’t immediately say if anyone was arrested.
Two people were evaluated by paramedics and both declined treatment, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Several hundred people had gathered Sunday afternoon in the Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian theocracy. The LA police department eventually issued a dispersal order, and by 5 p.m. only about a hundred protesters were still at the scene, ABC7 reported.
Activists say a crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has killed more than 530 people. Protesters flooded the streets in Iran’s capital of Tehran and its second-largest city again Sunday.
