The European Commission announced on Friday (September 19, 2025) that it was proposing a sanctions package, the 19th since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, to member states for approval. The bloc’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, suggested that Indian entities would be impacted. The move comes two days after the EU announced that it was upgrading its relationship with India as a strategic priority.
“These new sanctions will also squeeze Russia’s access to technologies, including AI and geospatial data, as well as critical resources that feed weapons production. This includes those received from foreign suppliers, including China and India,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat said on Friday (September 19, 2025) in a televised statement. Indian entities have been subject to Russia-related EU sanctions in previous rounds.
U.S. President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Europe to stop energy trade with Russia. Last week, Trump administration officials had attempted to persuade the EU to apply tariffs on India and China for their trade with Russia. The EU however has focused on the more traditional sanctions approach and thus far not announced Russia-related tariffs on India or China.
The Commission, on Friday (September 19, 2025), proposed a total ban on imports of Russian LNG by January 2027, according to EU President Ursula Von der Leyen.
Last Saturday (September 13, 2025), Mr. Trump had said the U.S. would also increase sanctions on Russia if the EU imposes tariffs on China and NATO countries stop buying Russian oil. While EU countries have significantly scaled back their imports of Russian oil in recent years, they still import other commodities (for instance iron and steel, fertiliser, and nickel) from Russia.
The new package will also sanction another 118 vessels part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, i.e., thought to carry out trade, breaking existing sanctions of the EU. It will also include transactions bans on banks in Russia and third parties and sanctions on certain crypto platforms.
“…When speaking directly with partners that speak to Russians, they say that among the first Russian request is sanction relief. So we know that our sanctions are an effective tool of economic pressure and we will keep using them till Russia comes to the negotiation table with Ukraine for just and lasting peace,” Ms. Von der Leyen said.
