EU agrees on sanctions package against Russia after Greece drops veto
The package, significantly diluted from its original form after objections from Greece and other countries, still freezes the Russian oil price cap and targets 94 financial institutions
Talks stretched into the final hours, with Greece emerging as the last holdout as it sought exemptions for its shipping industry, including for Greek LNG shipper Dynagas to continue transporting Russian LNG to non-EU countries. Under a compromise brokered by Ireland, governments agreed to a renewable one-year exemption allowing companies to transport Russian LNG to third countries, with annual reviews, alongside a 12-month freeze on any adjustment to the G7 oil price cap.
The package freezes the Russian oil price cap at $44.10 a barrel for 12 months. Without the deal, the cap risked automatically rising to $58 a barrel amid market volatility linked to the Iran war. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on social media that the freeze ensures "the Russian war machine does not benefit from market shocks."
The package designates 94 Russian financial institutions, mainly banks, alongside Moscow's stock exchange, for asset freezes, travel bans and transaction bans. It also targets vessels assisting Russia's shadow fleet for the first time and bans transactions with additional crypto platforms and oil trading companies.
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A Baltic-led push to ban Russian soldiers from entering the EU was significantly diluted after France, Italy and Greece pushed back, narrowing its scope to short-stay visas and limiting the criteria to direct involvement in combat or military operations. Negotiations were also delayed for weeks by Austria's insistence that Raiffeisen Bank International be allowed to access frozen Russian assets, an issue that was ultimately pushed into a recital in the legal text for later revisiting.
Plans to phase out Russian fish imports were gutted amid resistance from Germany, Poland and Portugal, while Bulgaria blocked efforts to sanction Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Despite the concessions, the package still blacklists around 250 additional individuals and entities.