Ukrainian FM: Greek companies pull Russia out of oil embargo loop

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said that Greek companies pull Russia out of the oil embargo loop.

One of the main points of the seventh package of European Union sanctions against Russia should be the complete isolation of world maritime trade, European Pravda reports, quoting Kuleba.

"We want to see Russia cut off from world maritime trade there. This means, first of all, the inability of ship operators to provide their tankers at the disposal of the Russian Federation. It so happened that, at least according to the latest data that I had, the largest operators, and the largest supplier of tankers for the transportation of Russian oil by sea are private Greek companies. Not government companies, I don't blame the Greek government, but private Greek companies are the largest suppliers, which, in fact, pull Russia out of the loop of the oil embargo. This is a fact," Kuleba said.

Also, in the seventh package of sanctions, Ukraine expects to see a complete disconnection of Russian banks from SWIFT, and an embargo on transactions with Russian gold.

"Well, personal sanctions [should be imposed] to hurt them. They, their loved ones, their mistresses, so that everyone would be hurt," the minister added.

According to media reports, the European Union has begun work on the next, seventh package of sanctions, under which, in particular, an embargo on gold imports from Russia may be imposed.

On July 3, Turkish customs detained a Russian cargo ship with grain stolen in Ukraine and taken out of the port of Berdyansk.