The European Union is poised to ban Russian coal in the first sanctions on the vital energy industry over the war in Ukraine, but it has underlined the 27 nations' inability to agree on a much more sweeping embargo on oil and natural gas that would hit Russia harder but risk recession at home.
The coal ban, which is expected to be approved in a new package of sanctions this week, would cost Russia $4 billion a year, said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.
Energy analysts and coal importers say Europe could replace Russian supply in a few months from other countries, including US. The coal ban is significant because it breaks taboo on severing energy ties with Russia. But compared with natural gas and oil, coal is by far the easiest to cut off quickly and inflicts far less financial damage on Russian President Vladimir Putin's war chest. Europe sends 20 million euros a day to Russia for coal - but 850 million a day for oil and gas. Shocking pictures of dead civilians from the Ukrainian town of Bucha are keeping discussion of broader sanctions alive, with EU officials saying they are working on targeting Russian oil.
While European Union ponders such future sanctions, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said no embargo of Russian natural gas is up for consideration at this point.
"And I don't know if it ever will be on table,'' Draghi told reporters in Rome on Wednesday night. EU countries, especially big economies like Italy and Germany, rely heavily on Russian natural gas to heat and cool homes, generate electricity and keep industry churning.