![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6876390.1715081204!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
The European Union's efforts to impose a new round of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine appeared to bog down on Monday, as a small group of countries continued to oppose a ban on Russian oil imports.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the 27-nation bloc has implemented five rounds of sanctions on Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior Russian officials, more than 350 lawmakers and pro-Kremlin oligarchs have been hit with asset freezes and travel bans. Russian banks, the transport sector and alleged propaganda outlets were targeted.
What could have taken years in the past was achieved in less than three months - relative light speed for the bloc. But limiting Russia's energy income by weaning the EU's dependency on Russian oil - not to mention Russian gas supplies - is proving a tougher nut to crack.
The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, proposed on May 4 a sixth package of war sanctions that included a ban on oil imports from Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen conceded at the time that securing the agreement of all “will not be easy.”
Hungary is one landlocked EU country that is highly dependent on Russian oil, along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bulgaria also has reservations. Hungary gets more than 60% of its oil from Russia and 85% of its natural gas.
“Unhappily, today it has not been possible to reach an agreement” to end the oil stalemate, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after chairing a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels.
The problem, Borrell said, “was technically too complicated, and it was not possible to reach a political decision.” He said he could not predict how long it might take to break the deadlock, but said EU ambassadors would continue work on the issue in the coming days.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was disappointed by the delay.
“We understand why it is not happening,” he told reporters as he left the meeting. “But time is running out, because every day Russia keeps making money” by selling oil to Europe.
Muddying the waters is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's relationship with Putin. Orban is widely considered to be one of the Russian leader's closest European allies. Orban has only reluctantly supported previous EU sanctions, including a phased-in embargo on Russian coal.
Since taking office in 2010, Orban has deepened Hungary's dependency on Russian energy and says his country's geography and energy infrastructure make a Russian oil shutdown impossible. His EU partners are at odds over what they believe is driving his reluctance to target Russian oil.
“The whole union is being held hostage by one member state,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said. He said the European Commission's proposal offered members a phaseout of Russian oil until Dec 31, 2024, and that “everybody expected that this would be enough.”
But his Irish counterpart, Simon Coveney, acknowledged that “these are difficult, difficult issues for some countries,” and he added: “Let's not focus on obstacles and negatives today.”
At the same time, Coveney said, “we need to get on and do this. We need to send a very clear signal to the Kremlin and to Moscow that the cost of their continuing war in Ukraine, which is completely unjustifiable, will continue to increase.”
For now, the ball is in Hungary's court, as the most vocal member of those opposed.
Officials have said that Orban appears to be seeking EU money for energy infrastructure investment. Any compromise is only likely to be found in his talks with von der Leyen, not between ministers.
The oil standoff raises questions about whether the EU has reached the limits of its unity on sanctions. Targeting Russia's gas sector, on which many more EU countries are dependent, is likely to prove even tougher.
Despite the new holdup, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock remained optimistic.
“In the coming days we will reach a common result -- I am very confident about that,” she said.
Borrell did confirm that a political agreement was reached on a fourth tranche of money to help supply weapons to Ukraine. Once officially enacted, it would bring to 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) the total sum available to fund the purchase of arms and other nonlethal assistance.
___
Do you have any questions about the attack on Ukraine? Email dotcom@bellmedia.ca.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.