The EU failed on Sunday to agree on an embargo of Russian oil, but diplomats but will still try to make progress ahead of a Monday-Tuesday summit on an exemption for pipeline deliveries to landlocked Central European countries, officials said.
However, a senior EU diplomat said there was “still too much detail to sort out” to hope for an agreement before European Union leaders gather in Brussels on Monday afternoon.
The package includes cutting Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, off from the SWIFT messaging system, banning Russian broadcasters from the EU and adding more people to a list of individuals whose assets are frozen and who cannot enter the EU. Talks on the oil embargo have been going on for a month with no progress and leaders had been keen to reach an agreement for their summit to avoid looking disunited in their response to Moscow.