The European Union announced an oil embargo against Russia on Wednesday, and for the third day in a row, 27 EU countries are trying to agree on a sixth package of sanctions, which could include Patriarch Kirill and former gymnast Alina Kabayeva.

However, there are some difficulties. According to the Western press, Greece and Hungary opposed the inclusion of Patriarch Kirill in the list of sanctions, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic disagreed with the terms of the oil embargo, and Greece and Cyprus also opposed the ban on European oil tankers.

The European oil embargo is the most radical instrument of Vladimir Putin’s economic coercion to make peace in the West.

The oil and gas sector accounts for half of Russia’s budget and more than half of its exports, and it sells 70% of its gas and 60% of its oil and oil products to Europe. During the two and a half months of the war, the EU paid Russia more than 20 billion euros for oil and more than 30 billion euros for gas.

The European Commission has proposed to abandon Russian oil in six months, and oil products – at the end of the year. Hungary and Slovakia have been promised another year of transition.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán initially sent a letter of outrage to Brussels, and on Friday said on the radio that Hungary’s year and a half is not enough for perestroika, it needs five, and he expects improved proposals from Brussels, reports Reuters.

If this “trade” ends today, the EU may have time to approve the sixth package by the end of the working week, and then we will find out by May 9 who is on the lists and what restrictions will be imposed. Currently, the package is known only in general.

Initially, the draft sanctions list contained 58 names, including Patriarch Kirill, the family of Putin’s chief spokesman Dmitry Peskov, and the Russian military responsible for killing civilians in Bucha.

But then four more names were added: three employees of the state agency RIA Novosti for inciting hatred in the author’s columns, and Alina Kabayeva, AFP and Bloomberg reported.

The EU and the US have already imposed sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s two daughters. The American press wrote that Kabayev was removed from the lists so as not to anger Putin.

The European Commission is proposing to impose sanctions on Kabayeva for her close ties to Putin and for chairing the board of directors of the National Media Group, which unites newspapers and TV channels, since 2014, AFP reported, citing a draft document.

Ambassadors from 27 countries met again Friday morning to discuss proposals from the European Commission, the EU’s executive body.

Reuters writes that the concessions include a three-month postponement of the ban on the transportation of Russian oil by European tankers, instead of one month, as well as subsidies to countries for which the refusal of energy from Russia threatens the cost of rebuilding plants and pipelines.

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