Brussels Drafts 117 More Russia Sanctions Listings

On Oct. 21, the European Union’s diplomatic arm proposed 117 additional sanctions listings, putting transaction bans and asset freezes on the table for people and entities linked to sectors generating revenue for Russia’s war against Ukraine. The draft hasn’t been adopted: sanctions experts appointed by the 27 EU countries must review it before ambassadors and ministers get their turns to approve it.

The Brussels apparatus draws the list

The proposal names 12 individuals and 105 entities. If officials adopt it, those listed would face a ban on transactions with the EU and a freeze on assets held in the bloc. Sanctions could also complicate their dealings with companies in third countries seeking to protect commercial ties with the EU. A decision made through the bloc’s institutions can reach beyond its borders, shaping which commercial relationships other companies consider safe to maintain.

Energy is a central target. The draft contains 31 listings tied to Russia’s oil processing, refining and export capacity, spanning the country from St. Petersburg to Sakhalin. It also proposes sanctions on two entities that process Russian liquefied natural gas, 52 banking and financial institutions, and a steel company operating from Russian-occupied territory in Donetsk Oblast.

The timing puts the proposal beside a recent act of commerce: barely two weeks earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to import diesel, a refined oil product, from Russia. At their meeting in Brussels on Oct. 15-16, EU leaders condemned the deal and what the report described as a wider U.S. attitude change toward Ukraine. Now, the diplomatic machinery proposes restrictions on energy-related business, while the stated political position is pressure on Russia, not Ukraine.

A border drawn through commerce

The EU’s proposed listings also reach companies and entities in third countries accused of helping Moscow evade sanctions. The draft names 12 in the United Arab Emirates, as well as companies in Oman, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Seychelles. It isn’t simply a list of people inside Russia: the proposed measure uses access to the EU market and assets held in the bloc as leverage over dealings that cross national jurisdictions.

Some of the 12 individuals proposed for sanctions have ties to the e-commerce platforms Ozon and Wildberries, which had traded in products that help Russia’s military effort, and to Moscow’s search engine Yandex. The report said all three companies had been targets of successful Ukrainian military strikes. The draft doesn’t make an equivalent claim that those platforms themselves are among the proposed listings; officials are considering the named individuals.

The EU also prepared sanctions against 15 more companies belonging to Russia’s military-industrial complex. At the same time, it proposed removing one entity in a third country. The draft legal text says that entity had “ceased the activity which led to its inclusion in the list and has committed to refrain from any such activity in the future.”

The vote still belongs to officials

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said: “We see that we have to pressure the aggressor to stop the war, not the victim to surrender.” An Irish Council Presidency spokesperson said the European External Action Service “proposed 117 additional listings targeting sectors which raise revenue for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, such as the financial sector, energy sector, and the Russian shadow fleet.”

Sanctions experts appointed by the 27 EU countries must review the draft. Then it returns to ambassadors for approval and goes to ministers for a final vote. The proposal sets out transaction bans and frozen assets, but officials must make a sequence of decisions before those measures take effect. For now, the list remains a draft, and the bloc’s appointed experts, ambassadors and ministers hold the power to turn it into policy.