BRUSSELS: European Union envoys are on the verge of agreeing an 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that would include a lower price cap on Russian oil, four EU sources said after a Sunday meeting.
The sources said all the elements of the package had been agreed, although one member state still has a technical reservation on the new cap.
The sources — speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks — said they expect to reach a full agreement on Monday, ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels the following day that could formally approve the package.
The sources said they had also agreed to a dynamic price mechanism for the price cap. On Friday, the European Commission proposed a floating price cap on Russian oil of 15 percent below the average market price of crude in the previous three months.
One of the sources said the initial price would be around $47 a barrel based on the average price of Russian crude for the last 22 weeks minus 15 percent. Further, the price would be revised based on the average oil price every six months instead of the proposed three months.
Slovakia — which has held up the proposed package — is still seeking reassurances from the European Commission on its concerns about plans to phase out Russian gas supply but it has agreed to the new measures, the sources said.
Sanctions require unanimity among the EU’s member countries to be adopted.
The Group of Seven (G7) price cap, aimed at curbing Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine, was originally agreed in December 2022. The European Union and Britain have been pushing the G7 to lower the cap for the last two months after a fall in oil futures made the current $60 a barrel level largely irrelevant.
The cap bans trade in Russian crude oil transported by tankers if the price paid was above $60 per barrel and prohibits shipping, insurance and re-insurance companies from handling cargoes of Russian crude around the globe, unless it is sold for less than the price cap.
The Commission proposed the package in early June, aimed at further cutting Moscow’s energy revenues, including a ban on transactions with Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines, and financial network that helps it circumvent sanctions.
Another one of the sources said the new package will list a Russian-owned refinery in India, two Chinese banks, and a flag registry. Russia has used flags of convenience for its shadow fleet of ships and oil tankers.
EU envoys near agreement on lower Russian oil price cap
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EU envoys near agreement on lower Russian oil price cap
Guinea launches probe after nationals expelled from Germany
- The government in Conakry has been under pressure in recent days to respond to the deportations
- Ministers have summoned the charge d’affaires from Germany’s embassy to explain why the Guineans were expelled
CONAKRY: The authorities in Guinea said Thursday they were looking into why a number of its citizens had been kicked out of Germany, after an angry online response to the expulsions.
The government in Conakry has been under pressure in recent days to respond to the deportations, videos and testimony of which have been circulating on social media.
Ministers have summoned the charge d’affaires from Germany’s embassy to explain why the Guineans were expelled and to urge a halt to future deportations.
“We want our fellow citizens to have their dignity respected,” Foreign Minister Morissanda Kouyate told the diplomat before television cameras.
At a news conference on Thursday, Kouyate announced that a “bilateral commission of investigation” had been established involving both Guinea and Germany to get to the bottom of the matter.
“Instead of hurling abuse at each other... we are going to sit down at a table in the strict interest of European citizens and Guinean citizens,” he told reporters, alongside German ambassador Irene Biontino.
Some 6,000 Guineans are living irregularly in Germany, the minister said.
Biontino on Wednesday said in an interview that there had been “no offensive” recently. The deportations of irregular Guinean nationals were being conducted in line with bilateral agreements and Germany’s “sovereignty,” she added.
“A total of 30 people were deported to Guinea in January 2026. (In comparison), in January 2025, 20 people were sent back to Guinea,” a German interior ministry spokesman told AFP.
There were 169 expulsions to Guinea in 2025, they added.
In recent years, Guinea has become a key starting point for young migrants trying to smuggle themselves into north Africa and Europe in the hope of a better future.
According to a 2021 International Organization for Migration study, the Guinean diaspora was estimated at between three and five million people.
Most were living in west Africa and in France, Germany and Belgium.
