Oil pumps. File photoMOSCOW, Apr 23U.S. officials and the European Union are negotiating steps Brussels could take to curtail oil imports from Russia and reduce the revenue Moscow receives from its sale, Bloomberg reports, citing to sources familiar with the situation. According to the agency's sources, the options being discussed include a ban, a price cap, and a payment mechanism in order to withhold the revenues that Russia has received since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. One of the sources said the goal of these talks is «to figure out how to hit Russian President Vladimir Putin the hardest.» Politico previously wrote, citing unnamed diplomats, that the EU plans to impose a sixth round of sanctions against Russia next week. According to the publication, the new package of EU sanctions may include a «definite ban» on the import of Russian oil, as well as disconnecting more Russian banks from the SWIFT system. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.» According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, as of March 25, the main tasks of the first stage were completed — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. On April 19, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the start of the next phase of the special operation.
