EU rolls out 'strongest' sanctions package yet on Russia
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Brussels expands scope of restrictions to include third-party facilitators and key Kremlin-linked assets amid ongoing Ukraine war.
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European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas talks with journalists as she arrives for an EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels on July 15, 2025. (AP)
The European Union (EU) has adopted its most sweeping sanctions package against Russia to date. The latest measures, announced by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Wednesday in a series of posts on X, mark a significant escalation in the bloc’s sanctions strategy, both in scope and enforcement.
At the heart of the new package is a crackdown on Russia’s so-called "shadow fleet", a network of vessels used to circumvent oil sanctions and obscure the origins of Russian crude. The EU has added 105 ships to its blacklist, marking one of the largest single-day expansions of maritime restrictions since the war began.
We are standing firm.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) July 18, 2025
The EU just approved one of its strongest sanctions package against Russia to date.
We’re cutting the Kremlin’s war budget further, going after 105 more shadow fleet ships, their enablers, and limiting Russian banks’ access to funding. (1/3)
In a parallel move, the EU is lowering the price cap on Russian oil exports, aimed at directly reducing the Kremlin’s war chest. The sanctions also formalize a ban on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which had previously been suspended but not legally blocked.
Financial choke points and foreign actors
The EU’s strategy is no longer confined to targeting Russian entities alone. In a notable first, the package includes sanctions against an entire foreign flag registry used by Russian vessels and Rosneft’s largest refinery in India, a bold step that signals Brussels’ growing willingness to penalize foreign intermediaries who help Moscow evade restrictions.
Chinese financial institutions that provide backdoor funding and tech suppliers allegedly contributing components for Russian drones are also subject to the new measures.
Wider context
The sanctions extend beyond economic targets, while individuals and entities involved in the alleged relocation of Ukrainian children are now under EU restrictions.
“We are standing firm,” Kallas said. “We will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow,” she emphasized.
The latest EU sanctions package underscores Brussels' increasingly aggressive posture, shifting from deterrence to outright disruption, even at the expense of international diplomacy. By targeting third-party countries and entities outside Russian jurisdiction, the EU is expanding its sanctions regime in a way that many observers view as overreach, risking significant strain with major global partners like India and China.
Rather than pursuing diplomatic engagement or working toward a negotiated settlement, the EU has doubled down on efforts to destabilize Russia’s economy, targeting its trade routes, logistical infrastructure, and global partnerships, while simultaneously funneling weapons into Ukraine, fueling the very conflict it claims to seek an end to.
Zakharova mocks EU's Kallas over Trump's Ukraine arms plan
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated on Wednesday that Kallas had eventually grasped the underlying motives behind US President Donald Trump's proposal, which suggests that countries providing military aid to Ukraine should bear the costs of American weapons supplied to Kiev.
"It seems that Kaja [Kallas] starts to understand what is going on. Let us help her. It's like when someone told you to pay for the food that someone else eats and then dies, isn't it?" The Russian foreign minister said on her Telegram channel.
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko stated that Moscow perceives NATO’s ongoing military assistance to Ukraine in a negative light, interpreting it as a clear signal that Western allies lack a genuine commitment to pursuing peaceful resolutions.
Russia has consistently warned that Western weapon deliveries to Ukraine escalate the conflict rather than contribute to its resolution, effectively drawing NATO states deeper into the crisis, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explicitly stating that any arms shipments destined for Ukrainian forces would be considered valid military targets by Russian troops.
