EU preparing 18th Russia Sanctions Package targeting energy and banking 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU is preparing its 18th package of sanctions against Russia, targeting energy revenues and banking sectors, following a meeting with US Senator Lindsey Graham in Berlin on Monday. 

‘The EU is preparing its 18th package of hard-biting sanctions, targeting Russia’s energy revenues, including Nord Stream infrastructure, Russia’s banking sector and lowering the crude oil price cap,’ von der Leyen said, according to a European Commission readout.

The Commission President emphasised that coordinated EU-US action would ‘sharply increase the joint impact of our sanctions’ and expressed support for Graham’s commitment to ramping up pressure on Russia and moving ahead with a Senate bill next week.

The upcoming Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 aims to expand penalties on Russian banks, energy exports, and entities supporting Moscow’s war efforts. 

Von der Leyen outlined the EU’s strategic approach to ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, stating ”we need a real ceasefire, we need Russia at the negotiating table, and we need to end this war. Pressure works, as the Kremlin understands nothing else.’

The upcoming sanctions package will include measures ‘targeting Russia’s shadow fleet limiting Russia’s ability to transport its oil,’ which von der Leyen described as ‘an effective measure to dry up the Kremlin’s resources to wage the war’.

The meeting comes as both the EU and US continue to coordinate sanctions policies against Russia more than three years after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/read_25_1375