Countries including Poland and the Baltic states are demanding the new measures – which will also target luxury goods and the Russian IT, cyber security and software industry – in response to Vladimir Putin’s military escalation this week. But officials said it would be difficult to find consensus among all 27 member states, while Hungary has said it does not want new sanctions at all. The European Commission’s main goal is to push through a tough G7 deal on Russian oil price caps after months of US-led negotiations. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that new sanctions were needed to respond to Russia’s decision to begin partial mobilization and begin moves to annex parts of eastern Ukraine. However, some officials believe it will be difficult to impose more than a limited set of sanctions on all EU member states. A possible new round of sanctions, which would be the eighth round of sanctions, has yet to be formally tabled after meetings between Commission officials and representatives of member states starting on Friday. It is expected to contain legislation to implement a cap on the price of Russian crude, more listings of people under sanctions and measures targeting Russia’s IT, cybersecurity and software industries, officials said. The EU’s latest attempt to pass a major sanctions package in May ran into public acrimony and weeks of infighting as countries led by Hungary refused to agree to an embargo on Russian oil until they were granted an exemption that would have allowed their refineries to continue imports. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a private meeting of his Fidesz party on Wednesday that existing EU sanctions against Russia should be lifted, according to local media reports. The ruling party said on Thursday it was planning a “national consultation” on whether Hungarians supported EU sanctions. Despite these domestic signs of opposition, diplomats in Brussels point out that Budapest has so far supported all rounds of restrictions against Moscow and that the eighth is likely to have significantly less impact on the Hungarian economy than the oil embargo. Countries most adamant that the EU should increase pressure on Moscow, including Poland and the Baltic states, have released detailed measures they believe the Commission should support. Their ideas include banning diamond imports, which would hit Belgium, removing more Russian banks from the global Swift network, limiting the availability of IT and other services in Russia, and applying all the same sanctions against ally Belarus of Moscow in the war. But officials played down the prospect of a deal on some of the more ambitious ideas, as some countries argue that existing sanctions need more time to work. Unanimous consent is required for their implementation by the EU.

“The more you put in, the more reason you give some member states to be difficult,” said one EU diplomat. “The flip side is that if it’s too little, the hawks will say this doesn’t go far enough.” Another diplomat said the oil price ceiling should remain the focus of the new round, along with closing windows. “There aren’t many products left to hit as we’ve largely disengaged from the Russian economy,” the person said. “I don’t know if we will get very far by announcing new sanctions without proper consultation,” an EU official said of von der Leyen’s comments, adding that reaching consensus would be difficult ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Prague in two weeks. . The aim, according to two people briefed on the talks, is for EU ambassadors to discuss a draft of new sanctions next week as Brussels seeks to respond to Putin’s decision on Wednesday to build up reserves and threaten nuclear war in a his speech. A Commission spokesman said on Thursday that EU foreign ministers were “discussing the next possible restrictive measures that could be implemented”, adding that talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York were “ongoing”. A new round will focus on further sanctions on Russian individuals and organizations as well as possible additional export controls on “political goods,” the spokesman added. “This would be justified if Russia is moving towards a wartime economy.”