The European Commission, as part of the 17th package of sanctions against Russia, has proposed to impose restrictions against 60 individuals and organisations, as well as 150 tankers of the “shadow fleet”, Bloomberg news agency reported citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter but not authorised to comment on it officially.
According to the Financial Times, the restrictions are planned to be imposed against more than 20 companies believed to be helping Russia circumvent sanctions. Some of them are based in third countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Serbia, Vietnam and Uzbekistan. As the newspaper notes, this would be the first time a Vietnamese company has been sanctioned by Brussels for helping the Kremlin.
EU foreign ministers want to approve the new sanctions package by 20 May, when they will meet in Brussels. As Bloomberg notes, if the restrictions are approved, the total number of subsanctioned vessels of Russia’s “shadow fleet” will exceed 300.
The adoption of the sanctions package requires the support of all EU member states, and the restrictive measures also need to be renewed every six months. Hungary has repeatedly threatened to veto the measures. As Bloomberg previously wrote, the EU is studying ways to extend the sanctions without the approval of all 27 member states.