


The European Union announced a fresh package of sanctions on Friday meant to hit Russia’s economy and make it more difficult for the country to fund its war in Ukraine, with plans to curb its energy trade and punish financial service companies.
With the new package — the bloc’s 19th — Europe’s leaders are trying to ramp up pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. But they are also sending a signal to the White House after President Trump has in recent days called on European nations to stop buying oil from Russia.
“It is time to turn off the tap,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, as she announced the package on Friday. “Our sanctions are an effective tool of economic pressure, and we will keep using them until Russia comes to the negotiating table.”
The package includes a plan to phase out Russian liquefied natural gas purchases by the start of 2027, a year earlier than previously planned. It also includes provisions meant to pressure companies from China and other nations to stop doing business with Russia. For the first time, it will hit cryptocurrency platforms that enable transactions with Russia.
The sanctions would also add more ships to the European Union’s blacklist. With those additions, the bloc would have sanctions on 560 vessels that are part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a force of often-dilapidated ships with murky ownership structures that have helped the nation to get around Western limits and continue to profit from oil sales.
The latest package of sanctions will need to gain approval from political leaders across the 27-nation bloc, which could happen as soon as next month. Because the sanctions were negotiated extensively before their announcement, some version of the proposal is likely to eventually be adopted.