EU adopts 18th package of sanctions against Russia

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The European Commission welcomes the Council’s adoption of the 18th Russia sanctions package, aimed at further ramping up pressure on the country and supporting EU’s goal of achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.

The new measures focus on five building blocks: cutting Russia’s energy revenues, hitting Russia’s banking sector, further weakening its military-industrial complex, strengthening anti-circumvention measures, and holding Russia accountable for its crimes against Ukrainian children and cultural heritage. With this package, the number of listed vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet reaches a total of 444 vessels, and the number of individual listings exceeds 2,500. This package also includes new sanctions against Belarus.

The 18th package includes the following key elements:

ENERGY MEASURES

• Lowering of the Oil Price Cap for crude oil from 60 to 47.6 USD, and introduction of an automatic and dynamic mechanism for its review in the future. The new system will ensure that the cap is always 15% lower than the average market price for Urals crude in the previous period of six months, resulting in both predictability for operators and downward pressure on Russian energy revenues.
• Transaction ban for Nord Stream 1 and 2: This means no EU operator can engage in any transaction regarding the Nord Stream pipelines.
• Import ban on refined oil products derived from Russian crude: This means a clampdown on refined product imports made from Russian crude that are processed abroad and delivered into the EU. This will prevent Russian crude oil from reaching the EU market in any form.
• 105 additional vessel listings, meaning that a total of 444 vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet are now listed by the EU. 3 LNG tankershave been delisted following firm commitments that these vessels will no longer engage in the transport of Russian energy to the Russian Yamal and Arctic 2 projects. Listed vessels are subject to a port access ban and a ban on receiving services. Alongside the listings of these unseaworthy tankers, the EU is conducting outreach to flag states to ensure that ship registers do not allow these tankers to sail under their flag.
• Full-fledged listings – asset freezes, travel bans – throughout the shadow fleet value chain. These target both Russian and international companies managing shadow fleet vessels, traders of Russian crude oil, as well as a major customer of the shadow fleet, a refinery in India with Rosneft as its main shareholder. For the first time, we are also designating a captain of a shadow fleet vessel as well as an operator of an open flag registry. One entity in the Russian LNG sector is also included in today’s listings.

FINANCIAL MEASURES

• Transforming the ban on provision of specialised financial messaging services with certain Russian banks into a full transaction ban: This means EU firms are banned from doing any business, including providing specialised messaging services subject to this measure so far, with the 23 listed entities.
• Adding another 22 Russian banks to this transaction and messaging ban, bringing the total to 45. No EU operator will be able to engage with any of the listed banks directly or indirectly, including providing specialised messaging services.

• Broadening the transaction ban for third-country financial operators, including crypto-asset providers who help circumvent sanctions, support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, or are connected to Russia’s financial messaging service. EU operators are banned from carrying out transactions with any of those financial operators.
• New transaction ban targeting the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), its subsidiaries, its investments and financial institutions supporting them. The new measures prohibit engaging with any legal person, entity or body in which the RDIF holds any ownership or investments. This will prevent Russia from using the RDIF to access global financial markets, circumvent EU sanctions, obtain foreign currency, sustain its war effort, or increase the resilience of its economy. This package targets 4 companies in which the RDIF has invested, helping economic operators with implementation and compliance.
• Ban on provision of certain banking software: The prohibition on provision of services and software to the Russian Government and to Russian companies will now include key types of banking software.

TRADE MEASURES

The package expands export restrictions and bans to further disrupt and weaken Russia’s military-industrial complex. These include:

• Restrictions on additional advanced technologies;
• Further export bans that correspond to almost €2.1 billion of exports in 2024 terms.

ANTI-CIRCUMVENTION MEASURES

• This package adds 26 entities to the list of those providing direct or indirect support to Russia’s military industrial complex or engaging in sanctions circumvention.This includes 15 entities established in Russia and 11 in other third countries (4 in Türkiye and 7 in China/Hong Kong). Annex IV lists companies which are military end-users, or those which form part of, or have close links to, the Russian military-industrial complex and for which even tighter restrictions apply.
• The transit ban is expanded by adding 8 Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes from the list of Economically Critical Goods – updated on 24 February 2025 – used for construction and transport, two of which are of direct relevance to the energy industry. This means that those goods can no longer transit the territory of Russia when exported from the EU to third countries.
• The package also introduces a dedicated catch-all provision to address the risk of circumvention via third countries of exports of advanced technology items. This will provide Member States with an additional tool to stop and investigate suspicious shipments and prevent the circumvention of sanctions.

TARGETING RUSSIA’S MILITARY CAPABILITIES AND SUPPLY CHAINS

• Today’s package contains 55 additional listings. These listings target the military industrial complex with a view to curb Russia’s military capabilities. To further constrain its access to goods and technologies, listings target the supply chain of the Russian military industrial complex, including through the listing of companies in China supplying goods used on the battlefield. Additionally, the package targets 8 companies operating in the Belarusian military industrial complex, which is supporting Russia’s war efforts.

RUSSIA’S ACCOUNTABILITY

• By adding another individual actively involved in Russia’s “military education” of Ukrainian children, we continue to target those responsible for the indoctrination of Ukrainian children. It brings the total number of designations in relation to the deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children to over 80.
• The package is also listing several Russian proxies in occupied territories, including a person responsible for manipulation of Ukrainian cultural heritage, another leading Russian businessperson, and a prominent Russian propagandist.

MEASURES TO PROTECT MEMBER STATES FROM ARBITRATION

• Introduction of protective restrictions concerning the investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS): These new measures address the risk of economic damage from investment arbitrations launched by listed persons in relation to EU sanctions. The measures provide further protection for Member States from sanctions-related claims under their bilateral investment treaties (BITs). This includes the possibility for Member States to recover any damages incurred as a consequence of investor-to-state dispute settlement proceedings brought against them.

NEW MEASURES AGAINST BELARUS

In parallel, the package includes additional measures on Belarus, namely prohibiting arms procurement from Belarus, adding a catch-all provision for advanced technology items, transforming the ban on specialised financial messaging services into a full transaction ban, and adding measures to protect Member States from arbitration.

This package also includes additional export restrictions on sensitive goods, technologies and industrial goods. Finally, it adds one (1) entity subject to restrictions and eight (8) additional entities subject to asset freeze.

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