The European Union has agreed to add 1,646 names to its Russia sanctions list, marking its largest single expansion of measures against those accused of supporting Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ambassadors in Brussels sealed the deal on Wednesday. Foreign ministers are due to formally approve it on Monday in Luxembourg.
Who the sanctions target
The expansion covers 743 individuals and 826 entities accused of supporting the invasion. It also targets 77 lawmakers who stood for election in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine in the widely discredited State Duma election in September. The targeted people and entities won’t become public until foreign ministers approve the agreement.
The measures include a travel ban, an asset freeze and a prohibition on providing funding. The deal followed several weeks of deliberations and legal scrubbing, especially intensive because of the number of names included. The proposed additions will bring the blacklist close to 4,650 names.
Unity, and disputes over the list
Member states wanted to conclude the expansion to project unity amid a rapid succession of hybrid attacks, some attributed to Russia. Work has begun on new listings in response to the drone incident at Leipzig airport in Germany.
The push for a united front follows last month’s contentious decision to remove two high-profile oligarchs, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, from the blacklist. France requested Usmanov’s removal, tying it to a prisoner release with Azerbaijan brokered by the Turkic states, which had long lobbied in the billionaire’s favour.
One French citizen has been released, while a second remains in prison. In exchange for what officials described as a painful concession, the EU extended the sanctions list for an unprecedented three years. That renewal period runs alongside the unresolved dispute over whether Usmanov and Fridman could be listed again.
Earlier this week, High Representative Kaja Kallas welcomed the three-year renewal but said she thought it unlikely the two would be included again. “Countries are free to put forward names that should be included in the sanctions list. But in the end, it is up to the member states to decide,” Kallas said. “And I do not see this on these two persons happening any time soon.”
The unanimity question
The Usmanov case has left Brussels facing questions about the precedent it might set for the EU’s common foreign policy, which relies on unanimity. Ambassadors completed the current sanctions expansion after deliberations and legal review; foreign ministers still need to give formal approval.
As the bloc prepares to admit new members, the European Commission has proposed using the so-called passerelle clause to shift from unanimity to qualified majority voting on issues such as sanctions. The proposal aims to prevent more vetoes. But the clause itself requires unanimity to end unanimity, so member states’ agreement remains central to any change in how the bloc makes these decisions.