The European Union on Thursday formally adopted its much delayed 20th package of restrictive measures against Russia and the bloc’s biggest package of designations in two years. 

“Today we have finally broken the deadlock. On top of the €90-billion-loan for Ukraine, we have also adopted the 20th sanctions package,” Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and chair of the Foreign Affairs Council, said in a statement. “Russia’s war economy is under growing strain, while Ukraine is getting a major boost. We must keep up this pressure until Putin understands his war leads nowhere.”

Below is a sector-by-sector breakdown of what the package includes: 

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND CRYPTO

  • Russian banks: Transaction ban imposed on 20 additional Russian banks.
  • Third-country financial institutions: Transaction ban extended to four financial institutions in third countries for circumventing EU sanctions or for connection to the Russian System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), Russia’s banking messaging network.
  • Crypto sectoral ban: Total sectoral ban on providers and platforms established in Russia that allow for the transfer and exchange of crypto assets. Additionally, a Kyrgyz entity operating an exchange where significant amounts of the government-backed stablecoin A7A5 is traded has been designated.
  • RUBx: Transactions in the cryptocurrency RUBx are now banned.
  • Digital rouble: All EU support for the development of the digital rouble is prohibited.
  • Payment services: Netting transactions with Russian agents are now forbidden to prevent circumvention of EU sanctions.

ENERGY AND MARITIME

  • Future maritime services ban: The package establishes the legal basis for a future ban on maritime services for Russian crude oil and petroleum products, to be developed in full coordination with the G7 and the Price Cap Coalition.
  • Energy sector listings: 36 new designations covering upstream and downstream segments of the Russian energy sector, including exploration, extraction, refining, and transportation of oil. The package strategically targets emerging players that have recently increased their export market share.
  • Shadow fleet: 46 additional vessels added, bringing the total to 632 designated vessels. Listed vessels are subject to a port access ban and a ban on receiving a broad range of maritime transport services. The measures target non-EU tankers circumventing the oil price cap, supporting Russia’s energy sector, transporting military equipment, or carrying stolen Ukrainian grain.
  • Tanker sales: Mandatory due diligence checks are now required for the sale of tankers, to prevent Russia expanding its shadow fleet.
  • LNG tankers and icebreakers: New ban on the provision of maintenance and other services for Russian LNG tankers and icebreakers.
  • LNG terminal services: As of January 2027, it will be illegal to provide LNG terminal services to Russian entities or entities owned or controlled by Russian nationals or operators.
  • Port bans: Transactions banned with two Russian ports — Murmansk and Tuapse — and with the oil terminal of the Karimun port in Indonesia, for their role in circumventing the oil price cap.

TRADE

  • Anti-circumvention tool — first-ever activation: The EU has activated its anti-circumvention instrument for the first time, prohibiting the export of computer numerical control machines and radios to Kyrgyzstan, following analysis showing a significant surge in re-exports of these items through Kyrgyzstan to Russia.
  • New export bans: Expanded to cover laboratory glassware, certain high-performance lubricants and their additives, energetic materials, chemicals, rubber and articles made of vulcanized rubber, articles made of steel, tools for metal production, and industrial tractors — worth over €360 million.
  • New import bans: Certain raw materials, metals, minerals, steel scraps and other metal scraps, chemicals, articles of vulcanized rubber, and tanned fur skins — worth over €570 million.
  • Transit: Enhanced prohibition on transit of goods via Russian territory.
  • Ammonia quota: A quota introduced on imports of ammonia from Russia.
  • Cybersecurity services: Ban on the provision of cybersecurity services to Russia.

RUSSIA’S MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

  • 58 companies and associated individuals designated for involvement in the development and manufacturing of military goods, including drones.
  • 16 entities in China, the UAE, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Belarus designated for providing dual-use goods or weapons systems to Russia’s military-industrial complex.
  • 60 additional entities subjected to tighter export restrictions on items contributing to the technological enhancement of Russia’s defense sector, including entities in China (including Hong Kong), Türkiye, and the UAE.

INDIVIDUAL LISTINGS

  • 5 individuals and 1 entity listed for enabling the abduction, forced transfer, and indoctrination of Ukrainian children. Since the start of the war, Russia is estimated to have deported and forcibly transferred nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children.
  • 4 persons listed for involvement in the appropriation of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
  • 4 propagandists designated, including those with state-sponsored platforms.

DIAMONDS

  • Traceability requirements for diamonds have been tightened: importers of polished diamonds must now provide a due-diligence statement confirming that the diamonds were not mined, processed, or produced in Russia.

LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR EU OPERATORS

  • Stronger legal safeguards introduced to protect EU companies from violations of their intellectual property rights and from unfair expropriation in Russia due to abusive court rulings in connection with sanctions.

MEDIA AND BROADCASTING

  • The existing broadcasting prohibition is expanded to cover mirror sites of prohibited entities, closing a loophole used to circumvent EU measures. The measures will not prevent targeted media outlets and their staff from carrying out non-broadcasting activities in the EU, such as research and interviews.

BELARUS

  • Three new listings related to the Belarusian military-industrial complex and the Lukashenko regime.
  • For the first time under the Belarus sanctions regime, a Chinese state-owned entity has been targeted for its role in the production of Belarusian military goods.
  • Measures mirroring those imposed on Russia introduced, covering trade, legal protection, crypto, cybersecurity services, and tourism services.
  • The Belarus sanctions regime extended until February 2027.