New EU Sanctions Package Introduced 

On 23rd  July 2026  the European Council approved the 21st Russian sanctions package. 

The measures introduced include:

Finance  

• 33 more Russian credit or financial institutions subject to a transaction ban 
• 4 third country banks subject to a transaction ban 
• 14 third country crypto platforms listed 

Energy  

• 41  more shadow fleet vessels to be listed (673 in total)
• Propose targeting critical infrastructure, such as ports, airports, refineries trading or processing Russian oil.  
• Freeze the oil price cap at current price ($44.10)- the price was due to increase automatically based on the global market price unless an agreement was made by 15 July (the oil price freeze was agreed before the overall sanctions package agreement). 
• 5 third country oil traders listed 

Trade  

• More export restrictions for metals and alloys used in the aerospace and defence sectors 
• For drones, new export bans on ground support equipment, and jamming and launch systems 
• Import bans on certain metals, metal ores and car parts (worth €60 million) 
• The mandatory notification to the relevant Member State of the sale of an LNG tanker by an EU person to a third country person
• Trade restrictions aligned for Belarus  

Critical Infrastructure  

• Transaction bans on two Russian ports (Olya and Vysotsk); 
• Transaction bans on four airports (Sheremetyevo in Moscow, Ulyanovsk-Vostochny, Rostov-on-Don Platov Airport, Mineralnye Vody Airport) used for the transport of goods and technology in the defence and security sector)

Listings   

• 48 individuals and 170 entities added. These individuals and entities are subject to asset freezes.
•  Listings include:
• 94 Russian banks,
• 56 listings involved in the Russian military  industrial complex (including 36 involved in the production and supply-chain of long-range drones).
• 51 entities are subject to stricter export restrictions on dual-use goods and technology due to their links to the Russian military industrial complex. The third country entities are located in China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates
• Individuals and entities involved in the energy sector, gold and diamond sectors, and Russian shadow fleet. 

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