The European Union's executive arm presented its most recent sanction package against Russia and aimed to put pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin by damaging the country's energy and banking sectors.
The sanctions proposed on Tuesday, which still have to be discussed and adopted by the Member States, would prohibit transactions with the north stream pipelines in the hope of suffocating future flows from Russia to Europe.
They would reduce the price limit in which Russian gas can be bought in the global markets in the hope of shaking away Russian income.
And they beat both Russian banks and the so-called “shadow fleet”, old tankers, which are often registered in other countries or are not registered at all, which Moscow uses for the hidden transport and sale of its oil all over the world on rock energy sanctions. The new measures would be a new series of ships blacklist that are used in this way.
The proposal is the 18th sanction package, which has come into the full invasion of Ukraine since Russia's full invasion of Russia. Overall, the measures are a comprehensive effort to threaten Russian economic power and morality at a critical time of the war.
The announcement comes as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Despite the pressure of the Trump government to work on a ceasefire, the recent conversations between the two sides, at the beginning of this month in Istanbul, outside of another agreement, had to exchange prisoners.
“We want peace for Ukraine,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, the block of executive, during a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday. “That is why we increase the pressure on Russia because strength is the only language that Russia will understand.”
Ms. von der Leyen said that the war had to end with a “real ceasefire” and a “difficult proposal” from Russia.
The new measures would reduce the price limit for Russian oil from USD 60 per barrel to 45 US dollars. Oil prices have decreased since the first takeover of the upper limit in 2023, so
Since the oil price limit is a group of 7 measures, the proposal to fall the upper limit will be discussed at the G7 meeting of the next week in Canada, said Ms. von der Leyen.
Ms. von der Leyen proposed on Tuesday that she was confident that the G7 would support such a measure and that the United States and the European Union are “very oriented” to bring Russia to the negotiating table.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, has pushed more measures against Russia and worked on an expansive sanction package – although it is not yet clear whether President Trump will support it.
There are often questions about whether sanctions work. Russia's economy graduated in 2022, but then recovered. One reason is severe military spending. Another is that Russia has turned new markets, including China.
However, the European officials insist that the guidelines work – and that it intensifies the effect.
“Every sanction weakens the fight in Russia,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat on Tuesday. She said that the latest efforts, especially the Russia's shadow fleet, would pay off.
The European Union has already approved more than 300 ships used to circumvent sanctions. The new sanction package would list another 77 ships that are part of the Russian shadow fleet, said Ms. von der Leyen.
This is because the officers have tried to keep pace with the expanding brisk.
“To a certain extent, it is a mouse and cat hunting,” said Ignacy Niemczycki, deputy EU matters for Poland, in an interview on Tuesday during a press tour on the Baltic Sea in which the shadow fleet is particularly active. “We add more ships to the list and add more ships.”