EU Adopts Its 22nd Russia Sanctions Package With About 1,600 Listings in the Week Washington Loosened Its Own

On 12 October EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg formally adopted the bloc’s 22nd package of Russia sanctions. It adds about 1,600 individuals and entities, the largest single expansion since the full-scale invasion in 2022. “EU Foreign Ministers just adopted nearly 1,600 new sanctions listings targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex,” the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, wrote.

Kallas said more than half the listings are tied to ballistic missile production, with the aim of making Russia’s weapons output “significantly harder, slower and more expensive.” Some listings extend existing measures rather than adding new targets. They take effect on publication in the EU’s Official Journal. EU ambassadors had cleared the package on 7 and 8 October, as covered in our earlier sanctions post.

The US went the other way

In the same week, the US Treasury licensed imports of Russian diesel until April 2027, and the President announced deliveries of more than 300,000 tons at once. A bipartisan group of senators says the licence breaks the 2022 US ban on Russian energy imports, which we cover in a separate post.

The New York Times also reported that US envoys offered Russia talks on releasing frozen reserves, sanctions relief for Belarusian potash and a revived sale of Lukoil’s foreign assets, in return for a partial ceasefire. The White House hasn’t confirmed that.

The US hasn’t publicly reacted to the EU package.

Why the gap matters

Sanctions work best when the big economies move together. Since 2022 the US and EU have coordinated listings, the oil price cap and enforcement against the shadow fleet of tankers carrying Russian oil. Britain has sanctioned more than 600 of those vessels.

When Washington licenses Russian fuel while Brussels adds listings, Russian exporters and their buyers can route around the stricter side. European officials also lose leverage in arguing for tougher measures at home, especially in Hungary and Slovakia, which have resisted each package.

There’s a legal angle too. The new US Russia sanctions law, signed on 18 September, requires tariffs of up to 100% on the largest buyers of Russian oil and gas. Its first deadline falls around 19 October. The EU has no equivalent secondary tariff. If the President waives the US tariffs, the EU’s listings become the main new pressure on Moscow this autumn.

What to watch

Publication of the EU listings and any named Chinese or Indian firms, which would test US-EU alignment on China. The US decision on the Graham Act tariffs. And whether Congress, back in November, moves to restore the diesel ban.