By Anthony Marcus for Eurasia Business News, April 23, 2026. Article n°2088
The EU adopted its 20th package of sanctions against Russia over war in Ukraine on Thursday after Slovakia and Hungary dropped their opposition to the move following the resumption of flows through the Druzhba oil pipeline. That removed the last major obstacle to approval and let EU governments move ahead with the package.
The EU had initially aimed to adopt the package to mark the fourth year after the start of the war on Ukraine on February 24.
However, experts fear that these sanctions will further deepen the crisis in oil supplies to Europe amid the war against Iran and the blockade of the Hormuz Straits.
The average Euro 95 petrol price across the EU was about €1.764 per liter. A broader Europe-wide fuel price listing for April 20 shows gasoline prices ranging from about €0.941 to €2.715 per liter across countries, depending on taxes and market conditions.
Here are the key elements of the new measures set out in the EU’s Official Journal and EU press releases:
OIL AND GAS RESTRICTIONS
EU countries established the legal basis for a future full ban on offering maritime services to buyers of Russian crude and refined products to replace the G7 price cap.
No decision will be made on the phase-in of the ban until after further coordination with the G7.
Ban on providing services – technical, financial or brokering – for Russia-flagged or Russian-managed icebreakers and LNG tankers starting from April 25, 2026.
Ban on providing services for foreign-owned icebreakers and LNG tankers operating in Russia starting from January 1, 2027.
Ban on providing LNG terminal services directly or indirectly to Russian entities that are more than 50% controlled by a Russian citizen or entity in Russia.
PORT RESTRICTIONS, SHADOW FLEET
Bans on transactions with the Indonesian oil port at Karimun and two Russian ports – Murmansk and Tuapse.
Adds 46 vessels to Russia’s shadow fleet, taking the total to 632 vessels. Eleven ships were taken off the list.
Ban on direct and indirect tanker sales to Russian entities. Any tanker sales must include a clause banning resales to Russian entities or for use in Russia.
ASSET FREEZE LISTINGS
120 individuals and entities were added to the sanctions list, subjecting them to a travel ban, a full transaction ban and the freezing of assets.
56 designations related to Russia’s military industrial complex including 17 in third countries – China, UAE, Belarus and Central Asia.
36 listings encompassing both the upstream and downstream segments of the Russian energy sector, including the exploration, extraction, refining, and transportation of oil.
Two companies the EU says are linked to illegal Ukraine grain exports – Al Houda Holding and Levant Fleet.
Russia- and Belize-registered Moran Security Group, which the EU says provides ex-Russian military personnel to protect shadow fleet tankers.
Russia’s First Deputy Minister of Culture and the Director of the State Hermitage Museum.
Two Russian nationals and two Uzbek companies for supplying cotton pulp to Russia, which is critical for gunpowder production.
Kazakhstan’s United Trading Group and two people working for German chemical firm UrSeCo Handels that the EU says supply hydrogen chloride to Russia – critical in the making of semiconductor wafers.
RUSSIAN OIL-RELATED LISTINGS
Seven Russian refineries: Tuapse, Komsomolsk, Angarsk, Achinsk, Ryazan, Afipsky and Lukoil’s plant in Usinsk.
Two listed Russian oil producers: Bashneft and Slavneft.
Russian shipping insurance company Soglasie. This company is a Russian marine insurer that has been used in oil-tanker coverage, including for ships calling at Indian ports. Its addition to sanctions lists signals that the EU is tightening pressure on the insurance and logistics channels that help keep Russian energy exports moving.
Novus Middle East, a UAE-based company that controls previously sanctioned 2Rivers Group, formerly Coral Energy
UAE-based firms that the EU says are linked to the shadow fleet: Centauri Services LLC, Lumen Ship Management FZCO, Alghaf Marine DMCC and Lark Ship Management LLC.
United Capital Partners Investment and its founder, Gazprom Flot, Gazprom LNG Technologies, Gazstroyprom, Gazpromneft Marine Bunker, Rosneftflot and Lukoil Nizhnevolzhskneft that runs Russia’s largest Caspian oilfield Filanovsky.
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BANS ON CRYPTO, BANKS, CIRCUMVENTION
Bans on doing transactions with an additional 20 Russian banks and third-country lenders for enabling sanctions circumvention in Kyrgyzstan, Laos and Azerbaijan.
Kyrgyzstan is the first country hit by the EU’s anti-circumvention tool. The package bans EU sales of metal-cutting machines and communications machines for voice, image and data transmissions such as modems and routers to the Central Asian country.
NEW BANS RELATED TO RUSSIAN EXPROPRIATIONS, LEGAL CLAIMS
The package introduces clauses that will enable the EU to ban direct or indirect business with any company or person outside the EU that tries to enforce Russian legal claims except for humanitarian purposes.
Further, the package will allow the EU in future to ban transactions with Russian companies that benefit from “temporary management” or expropriation of EU assets under Russia’s counter-sanctions rules and that use EU companies’ intellectual property.
EU companies can go to EU courts to sue for damages caused by Russian claims enforced in third-country courts.
RUSSIAN METALS, CHEMICALS
Ban on imports of Russian metals including nickel bars, iron ores and concentrates, unrefined and processed copper, and various scrap metals including aluminium.
Ban on imports of Russian materials such as salt, pebbles, silicon, furskins, chemicals, rubber and articles made of vulcanised rubber.
Ban on exports of certain EU chemicals, rubber materials and industrial tractors to Russia.
Import quota for Russian ammonia set at 688,000 metric tons based on 2025 trade volumes.
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These metals matter because they are used in industrial manufacturing, auto catalysts, electronics, and related supply chains. The UK had already restricted some Russian copper trading and removed Russian refiners from platinum delivery lists earlier, which shows the direction of travel on metal sanctions. That means even a formal EU ban would likely reinforce an already tightening access to European markets rather than create a completely new shock.
Traders are also watching earnings, especially banks and other large companies, for clues on how geopolitical stress is affecting business conditions.
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© Copyright 2026 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 2088
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