The European Union has adopted its 21st sanctions package against Russia, and the Council says it carries the largest batch of individual listings in four years: 218 in all, 48 people and 170 entities.
“Our 21st package includes the highest number of listings in four years,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “We’re hitting over a hundred banks and crypto operators, 40+ vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet, and several oil refineries in Russia and Belarus.” She added that Russia will only negotiate an end to the war if it is pressured to do so.
Banks and crypto platforms
The Council froze assets and barred funds for 94 banks and major financial institutions, plus one prominent figure in Russia’s banking world. A transaction ban now covers 33 more Russian credit and financial institutions. A Kyrgyz bank tied to the SPFS messaging system and three other non-Russian banks face transaction bans for helping Russia get around sanctions.
Four new designations touch the cross-border A7 network, including its new links to Africa. The EU also extended its transaction ban to 14 crypto platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus. For the first time it opened the door to a full ban on crypto-asset services in an entire third country, aimed at states that host platforms helping Russia dodge the rules.
The shadow fleet and refineries
The package lists 41 more vessels, on top of the 632 already sanctioned. It also widens the existing rules to reach ships that support the shadow fleet through bunkering and other services. Eight entities and one individual in the fleet’s ecosystem were designated, among them, for the first time, a crewing agency.
The oil sector took 18 entities and one individual, including three Russian refineries, a major Belarusian refinery and a company set up to sell Belarusian petroleum products inside Russia. A transaction ban on a Georgian refinery at Kulevi, which processes Russian oil, takes effect in six months. Five oil traders were added to the transaction-ban list. The automatic adjustment of the oil price cap is paused until July 15, 2027.
Two Russian ports and four airports are also covered by the transaction ban.
Drones, trade and the military industry
Fifty-six listings target the Russian military-industrial complex, 37 of them tied to long-range drones and their supply chains. Another 51 entities, some in China (including Hong Kong), India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and the UAE, were added to the list facing tighter export limits on dual-use goods such as microelectronics, CNC machine tools and semiconductor equipment.
The export ban now takes in nickel powders, beryllium powders, aerospace films and tapes, and drone-specific items such as jamming systems, launch systems and servomotors. New import restrictions cover goods worth more than EUR 60 million to Russia, among them copper, nickel, lead and precious-metal ores, unwrought zinc, glassware and car parts. Seven major players in the gold sector and one of the biggest diamond companies were designated as well.
The package lays the groundwork for a visa ban on combatants and ex-combatants of the Russian armed forces and proxy groups. The Council will decide when it starts. Belarus gets matching trade measures, and eight people were listed for spreading war propaganda. A Major General accused of torturing and executing Ukrainian prisoners of war was designated too.
Zelensky’s response
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the adoption and said Ukraine’s proposals had been taken into account. “It is very important that pressure on Russia over the war it started, and refuses to end, continues,” he wrote on Facebook. He said he expects work on a 22nd package to move forward actively.
