The European Union has officially introduced a new round of sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia into agreeing to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, a move Western allies see as essential before serious peace talks can begin.
If approved by members of the 27-member bloc, the plan would represent the 18th set of sanctions since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, forming the most extensive sanctions framework the EU has ever implemented. Announcing the plan on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “Russia continues to bring death and destruction to Ukraine, and its objective is not peace, but domination through force.” “There is no return to the past,” von der Leyen said.
The latest measures would blacklist 22 more Russian banks and expand the transaction ban to include foreign-based entities that help Russia evade existing sanctions. The Russian Direct Investment Fund, a state-run fund worth around $10 billion, is also included in the targets.
The European Union is scaling up its efforts against Russia’s Black Sea "shadow fleet" by blacklisting 77 additional vessels. To date, nearly 350 aging and poorly maintained tankers have been targeted by Brussels, blocking them from entering EU ports or using EU services. The new measures also include a prohibition on both direct and indirect use of the Nord Stream pipelines linking Russia and Germany. Although the pipelines are currently inactive, Germany has made it clear that gas deliveries through them will not resume even after the war concludes. The centerpiece of the proposed sanctions package is a planned reduction of the price cap on Russian seaborne oil, originally set by the G7 in December 2022.
