EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg today adopted the 22nd sanctions package against Russia. It lists around 1,600 individuals and entities targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex. Ukrainian civil society organisation Razom We Stand says the package falls short of what was promised: it does little to stop the energy revenues that pay for the missiles those companies build. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called it the largest expansion of the sanctions list since the war began. On numbers, the EU has delivered. On the money, it has not.
Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Director of Razom We Stand, said: “Europe has added hundreds of names to a list while leaving the till wide open. Freezing a missile engineer’s assets does not stop the billions Europe still pays and contributes to Russian Arctic LNG. The Council put sanctions on the companies who build Russia’s weapons, but at the same time European ports, shipowners and insurers keep financing the fuels that fund them. Until the EU bans the ships, the services and the sales that carry Russian fuel to market, every package will be bigger on paper and weaker in practice.”
The gaps are clear:
- Arctic LNG hits record flows into Europe. The EU imported a record 12.18 million tonnes from Yamal LNG in January-September 2026, worth an estimated €7.88 billion according to an analysis by Urgewald.
- Europeans still run Russia’s Arctic fleet. Greek firm Dynagas gained a carve-out in the 21st package that lets it keep shipping Russian LNG to non-EU buyers, and a Denmark-based Seapeak arm is the 100% owner of a Singaporean ship manager handling re-registered Arc 7 carriers that can continue to service Yamal LNG exports in 2027.
- Russia is finding ways around sanctions. Two domestically built Arc7 tankers have joined the Arctic LNG 2 project’s fleet and a third tanker is already launched. Novatek PJSC set up Severny Engineering in March 2026 to service and expand its LNG fleet.
- Refining loopholes persist. Refineries in India, Turkiye, Brunei, and Georgia that use Russian crude keep delivering oil products to sanctioning countries, including the EU.
Razom We Stand calls on EU leaders at the European Council on 15-16 October to open a 23rd package without delay, with a full maritime services ban, a full ban on LNG tanker sales to Russia, sanctions on Novatek PJSC and its Asian trading arm Novatek Gas and Power Asia Ltd, and an end to national carve-outs like Greece’s.
