Europe’s week: Sanctions, summits and nuclear war take centre stage, amid conflict in Ukraine

Western attempts to bring Russia to its knees economically suffered a setback this week.

The OPEC Plus oil cartel, driven by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed to a production cut of two million barrels a day to raise prices – countering efforts by the U.S. and Europe to squeeze the enormous revenue that Moscow reaps from the sale of crude oil.

The decision came the moment the EU cobbled together its latest package of sanctions against Russia over the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian provinces.

As Russian forces kept losing ground to Ukraine’s counteroffensive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made it clear once again that this war is pretty much Europe’s war as well.

“Europe’s contribution also has made a huge difference. And now it’s the time to keep track, to help the Ukrainians to face down the invader, a strong and steadfast Europe,” she said on Wednesday.

“That will only be the only way to stop Putin. This is a moment to stay the course and to signal again to our Ukrainian friends. We stay by your side as long as it takes.”

Inaugural EPC kicks-off

Ukraine is already a member of a new forum, the European Political Community (EPC), a 44-country brainchild of French president Emmanuel Macron.

Convening for the first time in Prague on Thursday, it brought together all 27 members of the EU, plus peripheral neighbours like Norway, Britain and Turkey.

The new forum is part of Macron’s long-standing quest to forge a united Europe of independent strength.

Whether the EPC will live up to that ambition remains to be seen.

One of the many insecurities is how an ever more aggressive Russia will behave.

A Russia that has recently multiplied its threats to use nuclear weapons to bomb its perceived enemies into submission.

“This is not the first time Putin has resorted to such a threat,” Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister said. “It is irresponsible. We have to take it seriously, just as we take everything seriously. But it is also, and we know this from the 200-plus days of this brutal war of aggression, an attempt to blackmail us.”

Mariana Budjeryn, senior research associate and nuclear security specialist at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center told Euronews the same thing – that the West should take the Russian president’s nuclear threats seriously.

“The threats that we heard emanating from him go well beyond what we understood Russian nuclear doctrine to have been with the permissible use of nuclear weapons,” Budjeryn said. “And so, I think it is something we should pay very, very close attention to.

Even the US president agreed this week, saying Putin was “not joking”.

Sanctions reach eighth round

Amid all the talk of nuclear war, fresh sanctions against Russia were approved by the EU on Thursday, including a price cap on the maritime trade of Russian oil.

They came in direct response to the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions by the Kremlin last week.

The price cap on oil was agreed upon in principle by the G7 and Brussels in early September.

They now intend to forbid their insurance and shipping firms from providing services to Russian companies that sell oil at a price that exceeds the agreed-upon cap.

Commercial oil tankers need insurance to cover the costs of incidents beyond their control, such as delays, damage to supplies, theft, or even war.

The latest sanctions also introduce new exports and imports ban, as well as a brand-new provision that prevents EU nationals from sitting on governing boards of Russia’s state-owned companies.

New individuals and entities accused of undermining Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty have been added to the extensive blacklist.

Fossil fuels are Russia’s main source of revenue and makeup 45% of the country’s federal budget.

EU leaders discuss gas cap

The idea of imposing a price cap on gas imports and transactions topped the agenda of an informal meeting of the bloc’s 27 heads of state and government in Prague Friday.

It came a day after the EPC, which gathered more than 40 European leaders from all over the continent, including the UK, Norway and Turkey.

A letter penned by von der Leyen on Wednesday served as basis for discussions, after she suggested a new set of emergency measures to tame the skyrocketing electricity bills that households and companies are facing, which are strongly driven by gas, the most expensive fuel needed to meet all power demands.

But differences persisted during the gathering, with no formal decision made.

There are some ideas on the table that have gained consensus, such as a joint procurement scheme to buy energy next year.

“One thing is very clear, there is broad support that, next spring, at the end of the winter, when our storages will be depleted, it is of paramount importance that we have a joint purchasing procurement of gas so that we avoid to bite each other and that we have collective bargaining power,” the European Commission president said on Friday.

Leaders will meet again in two weeks in Brussels, where they aim to reach an agreement on the best way to reform the energy market in order to curb increasing bills.