Czech PM Fiala: Gas won't make EU's next Russian sanctions package

As Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Reuters, the sanctions now being finalised by the EU's executive were expected to ban gold imports, widen a list of dual-use goods banned for export to Russia and target more individuals.

The European Commission should be ready to present the package in the coming days and member states could approve it immediately after, the Czech Prime Minister said.

"What is definitely problematic is to include energy into the sanctions, because a rule must be observed that the sanctions must have a greater impact on Russia than on the countries imposing the sanctions," he noted.

Fiala said there was no chance that gas would be included.

"I think that it should not be there, because a number of countries depend on Russian gas," he said.

The Czech Republic, which took over the EU's rotating six-month presidency on July 1, is one of those countries, dependent on Russia for almost all of its gas needs.

Overall, the EU relied on Russia for 40% of its gas before Moscow invaded Ukraine.

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