The US Department of the Treasury announced on Wednesday sanctions against the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as their subsidiaries. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reacted nervously. The politician assumes that in the case of Rosneft’s operations in Germany, the company will receive an exemption from the new US sanctions.
“We will discuss this with the Americans. I assume that Rosneft will receive an exemption,” Merz declared at the end of the EU summit in Brussels, referring to the company’s activities in Germany.
The EU summit took place shortly after EU countries agreed on the 19th package of sanctions against Russia, introducing, among other measures, a ban on the import of Russian LNG, and following the announcement by the US Department of the Treasury of sanctions against the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil and their subsidiaries. Merz expressed concern about a brief violation of Lithuanian airspace on Thursday by two military aircraft, stating that “this does not happen by accident.”
The Chancellor also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had presented him with a plan outlining how Germany could help protect Ukraine’s energy sector during the winter from Russian attacks. This proposal will be discussed by the German government.
According to Merz, the member states agreed that an EU summit on competitiveness will be held on February 12. On Thursday, at the EU summit in Brussels, the leaders failed to reach a breakthrough on the issue of using frozen Russian assets to fund a loan for Ukraine. The European Commission (EC) was instructed to prepare proposals on this matter, which will be discussed at the next summit.