The European Union on Monday announced it had slapped new sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, seeking to close some circumvention loopholes and targeting Moscow’s shadow fleet of tankers moving liquefied natural gas (LNG) through Europe, as well as several companies.
Western powers imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which has been progressively ramped up since.
Measures announced Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers mark the 14th package of sanctions European Union countries have adopted against Moscow.
The package will also add 116 entities and individuals to the sanctions list, bringing the total to more than 2,200.
In a statement, the bloc said it would "forbid reloading services of Russian LNG in EU territory for transshipment operations to third countries."
The EU estimates that about 4 billion to 6 billion cubic meters (141 billion to 212 billion cubic feet) of Russian LNG was shipped to third countries via EU ports last year. Russia is suspected of running a "ghost fleet" to evade sanctions and keep up the flow of energy earnings so that it can finance the war.
The measures will target ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore transfers as well as reloading operations. It also involves a crackdown on the re-export of LNG to third countries via the EU, plus a ban on new investments to help Russia complete LNG projects it is working on.
The measures that will take effect after a nine-month transition period stop short of an EU ban on LNG imports, which have risen since the start of the war.
Some central European countries still receive pipeline gas from Russia via Ukraine. The EU banned Russian oil imports in 2022 with some limited exemptions.
The new package aims to limit circumvention by creating more responsibility and penalties at the member state level for those found flouting the regulations.
A total of 61 new "entities" – often companies, banks, agencies and other organizations – were added to the EU’s list, including a number of them in China, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates. Many are accused of circumventing the bloc’s sanctions or providing sensitive equipment to Russia.
Around 50 more officials are also being targeted with asset freezes, as well as travel bans. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as scores of lawmakers and several oligarchs, are among more than 1,700 people already listed by the EU.
The more than 400 entities previously hit include companies working in the military, aviation, shipbuilding and machine sectors, the Wagner mercenary group, political parties and banks. Around 210 billion euros ($225 billion) worth of Russian central bank assets are blocked in the EU.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, had also proposed expanding the so-called "no Russia clause" passed in a previous package. The measure would have made subsidiaries of EU companies in third countries contractually prohibit the re-export of their wares to Russia for high-priority goods, including those that have a dual-use for military purposes, as well as ammunition and firearms.
However, it was scrapped at Germany's behest. The clause may be added later pending an impact assessment, diplomats said.
In a further move to hurt Moscow's ability to trade, the package bans EU banks outside Russia from using Moscow's financial messaging system SPFS, its equivalent to the global payments system SWIFT. Western powers banned Moscow from SWIFT in 2022.
"It also allows the council to draw up a list of non-Russian third country banks connected to such system; those banks will be banned from doing business with EU operators," a statement from the European Commission said.
Back to the so-called shadow fleet, the package aims to create a framework to add ships to the list of sanctions, such as oil tankers circumventing the Russian oil price cap set by the Group of Seven (G-7) nations, as well as vessels moving North Korean ammunition to Russia.
Vessels can be designated for instances including the "transport of military equipment for Russia, the transport of stolen Ukrainian grain and ... for instance through the transport of LNG components or trans-shipments of LNG," the EU ministers' statement said. Diplomats said that 27 ships – mostly tankers – have been listed so far.
Included in the measures are restrictions on helium, rare earths and manganese ores, as well as limits to Russian funding for think tanks and NGOs.
EU countries are now debating a package that would better align sanctions against Belarus that predate Moscow's invasion of Ukraine with the ones targeting Russia since 2022. Belarus has been a major loophole for goods reaching Russia, but members have been reluctant to tackle this issue over concerns around Belarus' major fertilizer exports.