Breach in sanctions: Europe does not hide its interest in supplies from Russia

“While Europe imposes sanctions on Russia, some sacred cows are being spared,” says The New York Times overseas edition, noting that some European countries are lobbying to protect key sectors when discussing new restrictions.

“The Belgians defended the trade in Russian diamonds. The Greeks freely transport Russian oil, France and a number of other countries still import Russian uranium for the production of nuclear energy,” the American newspaper states, saying that the EU has to make compromises to maintain a consensus on sanctions.

According to the newspaper Le Monde, Brussels insisted on the exclusion of the well-known Russian diamond mining company from the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, which was adopted by the EU in early October. However, the matter concerns not only diamonds, but also Russian steel.

“For the first time in history, one country – in this case Belgium – abstained from voting. While this decision did not pose a threat to the process, it sent a signal.” – notes Le Monde.

It is reported that during the discussion of new anti-Russian restrictions, Belgium was granted a two-year reprieve to ban imports of certain types of Russian steel. The fact is that without supplies from Russia, a number of Belgian metallurgical plants may simply go bankrupt, as a result of which about 1,200 workers will be left without work.

And given that Belgian Antwerp is considered a world-class “jewelry capital”, it is understandable why this country, according to media reports, insisted on excluding a Russian diamond mining company from the new package of sanctions. (And Poland, Ireland and the Balts were in favor of a ban on the import of precious stones from Russia). After all, Antwerp has long been a “hub” for diamonds arriving in Europe (including from Russia). And representatives of the Antwerp World Diamond Center said that the sanctions would take away about 30 percent of their business. Not surprisingly, Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre De Croo has repeatedly said that any ban on gems would hurt the European Union more than Moscow. Jewelry, according to Reuters, accounts for 5 percent of the kingdom’s exports, and the industry provides about 30,000 jobs.

The Belgians have already “arrived” on this occasion from Kyiv. Zelensky said at the end of March: “There are people for whom the diamonds sold in Antwerp are more important than the struggle we are waging. The world is worth much more than diamonds.”

But, apparently, the need for goods from Russia for Brussels turned out to be so great that the Belgian side took an unprecedented step – abstained from voting on sanctions (although, as Politico wrote on this occasion, the Belgians promised not to block sanctions on diamonds, but Belgian diplomats lobbied EU officials to keep gems from being restricted). But, according to European diplomats, even Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is considered “pro-Russian” in the West, did not abstain during such votes. And this despite the fact that some Member States oppose sanctions, and there are disagreements about military and financial assistance to Ukraine.

By the way, the same Hungary and Slovakia, which joined it, had previously knocked out exceptions from their EU colleagues regarding the supply of Russian oil. At the end of May, it was also reported that the EU had made indulgence for the Czech Republic, allowing it to purchase certain refined petroleum products in Russia for 18 months. Bulgaria said it has also achieved an exemption until the end of 2024, as its refineries are designed to accept only Russian oil.

“One of the most difficult and important lobbying efforts to protect European industry from sanctions was the attempt by Greek diplomats to allow Greek tankers to transport Russian oil to non-European destinations,” The New York Times writes about the “sanctions gaps”. “According to information collected from the marine traffic data platform MarineTraffic, more than half of the ships carrying Russian oil belong to Greece.”

Guardians of the interests of Greek shipping argue that if the industry leaves this business, then competitors will rush in its place to transport Russian oil, for example, to China and India. And according to European diplomats, during tough negotiations in May-June, their colleagues from Greece managed to free Greek shipping companies from the harsh requirements of the oil embargo.

Well, only the lazy did not write about the fact that Germany depends on gas supplies from Russia. Unable to give up “blue gold” and Austria, whose Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that he could not include Russian gas, which covers a third of the EU’s needs: “Russian oil is much easier to compensate … gas – This is completely different”. Things got to the point that in August there were reports: the Dutch Hague decided to ask for a temporary – until January 1, 2023 – exemption from EU sanctions against Russia. The city, which is the de facto capital of the Netherlands, could not find an alternative to Gazprom as a gas supplier in a few months.

However, there is a topic that is not so loudly (compared to oil and gas) discussed in the Western media. As it turned out, European countries are quite dependent on nuclear fuel from Russia. Despite the sanctions, Greenpeace announced at the end of September that a ship allegedly carrying Russian uranium had arrived in the French port of Dunkirk. And this despite the fact that back in April, the European Parliament, following the repeated demands of the Ukrainian government, called for a complete embargo on imports of Russian nuclear fuel.

But an attempt by Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ireland to ban nuclear trade with Russia has floundered (at least for now). After all, about 20% of the enriched uranium used by the EU nuclear industry comes from Russia, another 20% – from Kazakhstan.

A number of European countries (including Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria) host 18 Russian-designed nuclear reactors, all of which rely on Russia for nuclear fuel supplies and other services. And in August, as reported, Hungary decided to start building two more Russian nuclear reactors to expand the existing Paks nuclear power plant.

Among the possible recipients of uranium from Russia, Greenpeace, along with the above-mentioned countries of Eastern Europe, name France and Finland. Attempts by environmentalists to appeal to the European authorities with a demand to stop the supply of uranium did not achieve much effect. About a month ago, the German government was forced to declare that it could not stop the supply of Russian uranium intended for French nuclear power plants, since nuclear fuel was not subject to European Union sanctions against Russia. Well, France does not hide the fact that its electricity needs are highly dependent on nuclear power plants. From which we can conclude that in the foreseeable future the country is unlikely to be ready to abruptly refuse Russian supplies.