BRUSSELS — The European Commission targeted more Chinese entities in a sweeping new package of sanctions against Russia, President Ursula von der Leyen announced Friday.
“We target refineries, oil traders, petrochemical companies in third countries, including China,” von der Leyen said at a press conference, as the EU makes a diplomatic overture to U.S. President Donald Trump by hitting Beijing.
“We’re adding more chemicals, metal components, salts, and ores to our export bans and tighter export controls on entities from Russia as well as China and India,” added EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas in a post on social media.
The package — the 19th to be imposed on Moscow since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago — includes a $47.60 oil price cap, asset freezes against companies and new sanctions against the so-called shadow fleet of aging vessels shipping Russian oil in contravention of G7 restrictions.
The EU is also expected to accelerate its proposed ban on Russian LNG by one year, to late 2026.
“Russia has shown the full extent of its contempt for diplomacy and international law,” von der Leyen said, referencing the attack on the EU’s offices in Kyiv last month and the violation of Polish and Romanian airspace by drones. “In response, Europe is increasing its pressure.”
The package now needs to be approved by all 27 EU member countries in the coming weeks.
“We are now sanctioning 118 additional vessels from the shadow fleet. In total, more than 560 vessels are now listed under EU sanctions. Major energy trading companies Rosneft and Gazpromneft will now be on a full transaction ban, and other companies will also come under asset freeze,” the Commission president said.
“For the first time, our restrictive measures will hit crypto platforms and prohibit transactions in cryptocurrencies. We are listing foreign banks connected to Russian alternative payment service systems, and we are restricting transactions with entities in special economic zones,” she added.
European leaders have pledged to maintain pressure on Russia to end its war on Ukraine amid growing diplomatic efforts to force the Kremlin to negotiate.
However, officials privately acknowledged that the most effective measures would come only if the U.S. signed up to hard-hitting economic restrictions and stronger enforcement. A high-level technical team was dispatched to Washington last week and talks are ongoing.
U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has said he will agree to “major” sanctions on Russia if NATO countries complete their exit from Russian oil — a tough requirement given countries like Turkey, Hungary and Slovakia have refused to find alternative suppliers.
Trump repeated his call during a state visit to the U.K. this week, saying “if the price of oil comes down, Putin is going to drop out … He’s going to have no choice. He’s going to drop out of that war.”
Responding to the package, Ukraine’s sanctions commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk said “we, of course, want as many tough sanctions as possible. But we also understand that some of the measures are more difficult to adopt than the others, and we have a lot of respect to our partners for the effort they’ve taken so far.”
“This is just the beginning,” he added. “We are going to see a lot of development in the sanctions area in the coming weeks and months.”
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