EU Tightens the Noose on Russia with 17th Sanctions Package
The European Union has delivered a powerful new blow to Russia’s war economy, approving its 17th sanctions package in a sweeping effort to degrade the Kremlin’s capacity to wage its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Announced by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, the latest measures strike at the heart of Russia’s illicit oil trade and its broader machinery of aggression, signaling that Europe’s resolve remains unbroken.
At the center of the package is a crackdown on Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”—a murky network of nearly 200 tankers operating under flags of convenience, with transponders turned off and paperwork forged to evade international sanctions. These aging vessels have served as an economic backchannel for Moscow, enabling it to bypass the G7’s $60-per-barrel oil price cap and generate an estimated $9.4 billion in additional revenue in 2024 alone, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
By targeting this fleet, the EU aims to sever a vital artery of Putin’s war funding. These aren’t just ships; they are mobile lifelines for a regime that continues to bomb civilian infrastructure, abduct Ukrainian children, and fund terror through oil profits. Every sanctioned vessel is one less route through which Russia can convert crude oil into cluster munitions.
But the EU’s action goes far beyond tankers. The sanctions also strike at the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare tools, expanding legal and economic defenses against cyberattacks, disinformation, sabotage, and state-sponsored destabilization. From the suspected sabotage of Baltic undersea cables to coordinated information warfare across Europe, Moscow has long pursued a doctrine of chaos. The new measures show these threats are now being met with counterforce—not just condemnation.
Additionally, the EU has sanctioned 75 individuals and companies connected to Russia’s military-industrial complex, alongside 30 entities in third countries helping Moscow to launder its trade and finances. These include weapons suppliers, logistics firms, propaganda outlets, and intermediaries that have long served as enablers of Russian war crimes. Europe is no longer simply punishing the Kremlin; it is dismantling its support infrastructure piece by piece.
Kaja Kallas, a longtime hawk on Russia and former Estonian prime minister, made the EU’s position unambiguous: “The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response.”
That response increasingly includes not only targeted sanctions but also serious proposals to use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine and tighten enforcement mechanisms like the oil price cap.
Yet while Brussels moves with growing clarity, not all European nations have matched that urgency. Countries like Denmark continue to allow flows of Russian “tourism,” providing quiet escape valves for Kremlin elites and oligarchs. These contradictions must be resolved if Europe’s sanctions regime is to deliver the strategic effect it promises.