European Union member states have agreed a new sanctions package against Russia after Hungary lifted its veto, clearing the way for measures targeting Russian oil transport, banks, crypto platforms, and trade in restricted goods, according to a report by The Guardian. 

The bloc’s 20th sanctions package includes further maritime and energy restrictions aimed at curbing Russia’s oil exports, including adding more than 40 ships to the EU’s blacklist of vessels barred from its ports. It also includes a broad ban on maritime services tied to Russian oil transport, such as insurance, brokering and technical management, the newspaper said. 

The package also widens financial pressure on Moscow. About 120 individuals and entities, including 20 Russian regional banks, are to be added to the sanctions list, with travel bans, transaction bans, and asset freezes intended to complicate domestic and cross-border payments for Russian businesses, according to the report.

Crypto platforms and digital assets will also be targeted, along with third-country banks that facilitate trade in restricted military goods. The EU separately added roughly €930 million in goods to import and export bans.

The sanctions breakthrough came after Ukraine resumed pumping Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline, prompting Budapest to drop its opposition, The Guardian reported. The row had delayed both the sanctions package and final approval of a €90 billion EU loan for Kyiv, which member states’ ambassadors also agreed to move forward. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the agreement as “the right signal under the current circumstances,” the news outlet said. 

Read more at The Guardian