Washington (CNN)Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the US is working with its allies in Europe to explore the possibility of banning Russian oil imports to further punish the country for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“When it comes to oil, Russian oil, yesterday I spoke to the President and other members of the cabinet on the phone on precisely this issue, and we are now speaking with our European partners and allies to examine the prospects in a coordinated manner on the import of banning Russian oil while ensuring there is still adequate oil supply on world markets,” Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union.
The comments come days after the Biden administration appeared to downplay its openness to sanctions on Russian oil, underscoring the importance of the possibility of taking unprecedented action against the world’s second-largest oil producer.
Blinken also said the government is monitoring “very credible reports of deliberate attacks” by Russia on civilians in Ukraine.
“We have seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians that would constitute a war crime. We have seen very credible reports of the use of certain weapons,” he said.
“And what we’re doing right now is documenting all of this, putting it all together, looking at it and making sure that we can support everything when people and the relevant organizations and institutions are investigating whether war crimes have been or are going to be committed.” So we’re looking at these reports right now. They are very credible and we document everything,” the secretary said.
This story breaks and is updated.
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