The EU embargo on the purchase of Russian coal will come into force on Wednesday, as planned, despite the energy crisis, and all EU countries should comply with it, despite the energy crisis. This was stated by the official representative of the European Commission (EC) Eric Mamer at a briefing in Brussels, as TASS reports.

He stressed that the European Commission itself allows the wide use of coal in the EU exceptionally, despite the plans of the European Union's Green Transition. "An import ban on all forms of Russian coal was agreed in April by the EU as part of the fifth package of restrictive sanctions against Russia. The 10th of August is the end of the period for the import of Russian coal and no further exemption will apply. <…> We have no doubt that the member states will implement this decision," he said, responding to a question about Russian coal deliveries to the EU in the context of the community energy crisis.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine paradoxically is going to help us speed up our move away from fossil fuels in general and from Russian fossil fuels in particular," the spokesman said, adding that "it can be legitimate for short transitory periods of time to use coal if no other options are available."