European Union envoys agreed on Wednesday to a new round of sanctions designations against Russia, targeting 145 entities and individuals involved in the country's financial system, its shadow fleet of oil tankers and misinformation campaigns, EU diplomats said.
The listings fall under two main frameworks: the EU's main sanctions regime covering Ukraine's territorial integrity, which already carries around 4,500 designations, and its hybrid activities regime. One designation was also added under a third framework focused on cyberattacks.
In the main list, envoys agreed to add 113 entities and individuals, including 50 Russian banks, enablers of Russia's shadow fleet, energy companies and additional Russian business leaders, the diplomats said. Under the hybrid activities regime, they agreed to add 31 entities and individuals involved in foreign manipulation and disinformation.
One source said the new hybrid listings were in part a response to an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany, which Berlin blamed on Moscow. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in hybrid warfare, sabotage operations in NATO countries or plotting any confrontation with the alliance.
EU foreign ministers are expected to adopt the listings at a meeting on Monday, after which they will become law once published in the EU's Official Journal. The designations freeze any assets the targets hold in the EU and bar EU citizens and companies from doing business with them.
The move comes as the bloc tightens the screws on the financial networks Moscow uses to fund its war in Ukraine and evade existing sanctions. The shadow fleet — ageing tankers with opaque ownership that carry Russian oil outside the price cap imposed by the EU and its allies — has been a particular focus of recent enforcement, with European navies and coast guards stepping up inspections and seizures.
