FRANKFURT, April 17 (Reuters) – The next sanctions the European Union (EU) will impose on Russia will target banks, in particular Sberbank SBER.MM, as well as oil, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to a German newspaper.
“We are looking more at the banking sector, in particular at Sberbank which represents 37% of the Russian banking sector. There are also energy issues,” said Ursula von der Leyen to the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag, who asked her to detail the key points of the new sanctions.
The EU has, for now, spared Russia’s biggest bank because it represents, together with Gazprombank, one of the main payment channels for Russian oil and gas, which the countries of the bloc buy despite the conflict in Ukraine .
The President of the European Commission added that the EU was developing “smart mechanisms” to ensure that oil is also included in the new sanctions.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin should not be able to collect even higher prices in other markets for supplies that would normally go to the EU,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
“The priority is to reduce Putin’s income,” she added.
(Report Tom Sims; French version Camille Raynaud)