EU Targets Russian Oil Network in New Sanctions Push

On Oct. 21, the EU’s diplomatic arm presented ambassadors with a draft proposing 117 new sanctions listings, including 31 aimed at Russia’s oil processing, refining and export capacity. The proposal follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s agreement to import diesel from Russia. If adopted, it would bar listed individuals and entities from transactions with the bloc.

The draft names 12 individuals and 105 entities. A listing would freeze assets held in the EU and could complicate business for companies in third countries that want to protect their commercial ties with the bloc. The proposals target energy and finance, sectors the EU says generate revenue for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Energy and financial targets

The 31 oil-related listings stretch across Russia, from St. Petersburg to Sakhalin. The proposal also names 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 sanctions proposal came barely two weeks after Trump agreed to import diesel, a refined oil product, from Russia. At a meeting in Brussels on Oct. 15-16, EU leaders condemned the deal and what the report called a wider change in the U.S. attitude toward Ukraine.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who oversees the bloc’s sanctions, said: “We see that we have to pressure the aggressor to stop the war, not the victim to surrender,” according to the report.

An Irish Council Presidency spokesperson said the European External Action Service, or EEAS, “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.”

Third-country links and proposed removals

The draft targets entities in third countries accused of helping Moscow evade sanctions. It proposes listings for 12 entities in the United Arab Emirates, along with companies in Oman, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Seychelles.

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 Ukrainian military strikes had successfully targeted all three companies.

The EU is also preparing sanctions against 15 additional companies belonging to Russia’s military-industrial complex. At the same time, the draft proposes removing one entity in a third country. The draft legal text says the 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.”

Decision rests with member states

The listings remain proposals. They aren’t adopted sanctions. Sanctions experts appointed by the 27 EU countries are due to review the draft. It would then go back to ambassadors for approval before ministers receive it for a final vote.

That process takes the proposed restrictions through several rounds of review and approval by member-state representatives. If ministers approve them, listed individuals and entities would face a ban on transactions with the EU and an asset freeze. The measures could also affect commercial dealings beyond the bloc, where companies seek to maintain access to EU business.