The European Union agreed to implement an 18th sanctions package against Russia in response to its ongoing aggression in Ukraine. This comprehensive package includes a revised price cap on oil, a prohibition on transactions related to the Nord Stream gas pipelines, and enhanced efforts to target additional shadow fleet vessels. Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, noted that the sanctions will also impose restrictions on Russia’s financial sector.
“The message is clear: Europe will not back down in its support for Ukraine. The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war,” Kaja Kallas stated.
“The EU just approved one of its strongest sanctions package against Russia to date,” Kallas posted on X.
Significantly, the agreement was facilitated after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Slovakia would cease its blockage of the sanctions package.
Slovakia had previously opposed the approval due to apprehensions regarding a separate EU initiative aimed at phasing out gas imports from Russia. Prime Minister Fico emphasised that Slovakia has secured the maximum possible concessions at this stage, following multiple instances of blocking the sanctions while seeking guarantees against potential negative repercussions associated with the EU’s plan to eliminate all gas imports from Russia by 2028.
“At this point, it would be counterproductive to continue blocking the 18th sanctions package tomorrow,” Fico said in a video message posted on X.
“We will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow,” added Kallas.
In a post on X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the agreement. “We are striking at the heart of Russia’s war machine. Targeting its banking, energy and military-industrial sectors and including a new dynamic oil price cap,” she wrote.
