PARIS (Reuters) – France is in talks with the United Arab Emirates to find an alternative to Russian oil amid European Union sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, the French minister said on Sunday. of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire.
“We are looking for substitutes for the supply of gas and diesel from Russia. For example, the United Arab Emirates can be an at least temporary replacement solution,” the minister said on Europe 1.
“Discussions are already under way with the United Arab Emirates. We need to find an alternative to Russian oil,” added Bruno Le Maire.
European Union heads of state and government agreed on Monday to immediately ban more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports and end 90% of them by the end of the year, a measure intended to dry up the sources of funding for Moscow’s “war machine”.
Meeting in an extraordinary summit in Brussels, the Twenty-Seven overcame their differences with regard to what constitutes the strictest European sanctions against Russia since the latter launched on February 24 what it presents as a “special military operation ” in Ukraine. Kyiv and Westerners denounce an invasion.
(Report John Irish and Matthieu Protard)