Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak stressed that “European consumers will be the first to suffer from the consequences of the embargo on Russian oil,” according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

EU delegates approved the legal provisions of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which provide for a partial ban on oil imports. Under the agreement, EU countries will reduce 90 percent of oil imports to Russia by the end of the year, but will release crude oil transported through the pipeline from the embargo as a major concession to Hungary.

Financially, EU countries agreed to exclude Sberbank, the largest Russian bank, two other Russian banks and another in Belarus from the SWIFT system for international money transfers. As far as the media is concerned, the sanctions prevent three new Russian state radio stations from broadcasting in the European Union.