Blinken says US is working with European allies to look at ‘prospect’ of banning Russian oil imports

CNN

By Devan Cole, CNN

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the US is working with its allies in Europe to look into the possibility of banning Russian oil imports in an effort to further punish the country for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

“When it comes to oil, Russian oil, I was on the phone yesterday with the President and other members of the Cabinet on exactly the subject, and we are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil while making sure that there is still an appropriate supply of oil in world markets,” Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

The comments come several days after the Biden administration appeared to downplay its openness to sanctioning Russian oil, underscoring the significance of the possibility of taking any unprecedented action against the world’s No. 2 oil producer.

Blinken also said the administration is watching “very credible reports of deliberate attacks” by Russia on civilians in Ukraine.

“We’ve seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians, which would constitute a war crime. We’ve seen very credible reports about the use of certain weapons,” he said.

“And what we’re doing right now is documenting all this, putting it all together, looking at it and making sure that as people and the appropriate organizations and institutions investigate whether war crimes have been or are being committed, that we can support whatever they’re doing. So right now, we’re looking at these reports. They’re very credible and we’re documents everything,” the secretary said.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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