The European Commission published an overview of the Council’s adoption of the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia, setting out measures intended to reduce Russian energy revenues, tighten restrictions on the financial sector, further constrain the military-industrial complex, strengthen anti-circumvention tools, and add accountability-related designations. The package also introduces additional sanctions measures against Belarus. On energy, the package lowers the crude Oil Price Cap from USD 60 to USD 47.6 and introduces an automatic review mechanism designed to keep the cap 15% below the average market price for Urals crude over the previous six months. It also imposes a transaction ban on Nord Stream 1 and 2, bans imports of refined oil products derived from Russian crude processed abroad, and adds 105 vessels to the “shadow fleet” listings, taking the total to 444, while delisting three LNG tankers following commitments they will no longer transport Russian energy to the Yamal and Arctic 2 projects. Additional asset-freeze and travel-ban listings extend across the shadow fleet value chain, including traders, vessel managers and a refinery in India with Rosneft as its main shareholder, and for the first time include a shadow fleet captain and an operator of an open flag registry. Financial measures convert an existing ban on providing specialised financial messaging services to certain Russian banks into a full transaction ban for 23 listed entities and add another 22 banks, bringing the total covered to 45, while also broadening transaction bans to certain third-country financial operators, including crypto-asset providers, linked to sanctions circumvention or Russia’s financial messaging service; the package also introduces a transaction ban targeting the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), its subsidiaries, its investments and supporting financial institutions, and extends service and software prohibitions to include key types of banking software. Beyond finance and energy, the package expands export restrictions on advanced technologies and adds export bans corresponding to almost EUR 2.1 billion of exports (2024 terms), adds 26 entities associated with support to Russia’s military-industrial complex or circumvention (including in Türkiye and China/Hong Kong), expands the transit ban by adding eight Combined Nomenclature codes for economically critical goods, introduces a dedicated catch-all provision to address circumvention risk via third countries, and makes 55 further listings targeting military supply chains, including companies in China and eight companies in the Belarusian military-industrial complex; it also adds designations linked to the deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children, and introduces protective restrictions related to investor-to-state dispute settlement to mitigate sanctions-related arbitration risks for Member States, including the possibility to recover damages.
European Commission 2025-07-18
European Commission details EU 18th Russia sanctions package cutting oil price cap to USD 47.6 and expanding transaction bans to 45 banks
The European Commission announced the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia, targeting energy revenues, the financial sector, and the military-industrial complex, while also addressing Belarus. Key actions include lowering the crude Oil Price Cap, imposing transaction bans on Nord Stream pipelines, expanding asset-freeze and travel-ban listings, and converting financial messaging service bans into full transaction bans for 45 entities. The package broadens export restrictions, adds designations related to military supply chains, and introduces protective measures against sanctions-related arbitration risks.