Estonian PM against easing sanctions on Russia

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on March 23 spoke against any weakening of sanctions against Russia under a deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea and called for the G7 to tighten its oil cap to squeeze Russia's revenue more.

"We know that Russia is earning less from the oil... we see the economic sanctions, including the oil price cap, are having an effect on the Russian economy and their ability to fuel the war machine," she said on arriving to talks among the EU's 27 national leaders in Brussels on March 23-24, Devdiscourse reports.

"We should continue with that," she said, adding that Estonia would agree to raise the cap again should oil prices rise. She spoke against any weakening of sanctions against Russia as sought by Moscow in the grain deal talks. We shouldn't weaken the sanctions," she said, adding Russia could still use 18 ports for its agri-food exports to third countries and that only a dozen or so Russian banks were targeted by Western sanctions.