Prodded by U.S. criticism, the European Union is strengthening its sanctions on Russia with measures that directly target Moscow’s energy revenues. Washington, however, has yet to match the EU’s pace.
The bloc is preparing its 19th package of sanctions over Russia’s war against Ukraine. In the first year after the invasion, ten packages were swiftly adopted. But momentum slowed in 2023 and 2024, when only three sets of measures were agreed each year — and few tackled the Kremlin’s core source of income: energy exports.
So far, the EU has banned seaborne imports of Russian crude and oil products, imposed price caps on oil sales to third countries, prohibited new investments in Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, and barred EU ports from re-exporting Russian LNG.
Yet imports of Russian LNG into Europe remain untouched — and have even risen since before the war. Some member states, notably Hungary and Slovakia, also continue to receive pipeline oil and gas, though volumes have sharply fallen.
Facing waning U.S. pressure, Brussels has moved on its own to tighten the screws. The bloc’s latest sanctions package — the fourth in 2025 — will reportedly accelerate a full ban on Russian LNG imports to 2027.
In July, the EU closed a loophole that allowed refined oil products made from Russian crude to enter via third countries, with those “back-door” imports banned from next year. The same package also lowered the price cap for Russian crude to $47.60 a barrel, down from the original G7 ceiling of $60 set in 2022. While that cap was supposed to be regularly reviewed, the adjustment only came in mid-2025 — with Canada and Japan joining the EU and UK in tightening the limit. The U.S., notably, has kept the higher price in place.
The EU and UK have also led efforts to sanction poorly insured vessels in Russia’s “shadow fleet,” which continue to carry vast volumes of Russian oil. New penalties now extend to companies servicing those ships.
These actions send a pointed message to Washington: Europe is finally taking the tough steps the U.S. has long demanded. American criticism of ongoing EU energy imports — and the billions still flowing to Moscow — was justified. Yet it has also had the desired effect, spurring Brussels to act and even convincing the bloc’s most reluctant members, Hungary and Slovakia, to accept further restrictions.
The European Commission is now preparing a proposal to impose tariffs on Russian oil imports, a move that would directly affect those two countries, the only ones still importing via the Druzhba pipeline. While both governments oppose a “premature” cutoff, firm transatlantic messaging has made resistance harder.
Renewed political will — and sustained U.S. pressure — are now driving the EU to finally dismantle the last remnants of its energy dependence on Russia.