European Union’s ambassadors agreed on a 15th package of sanctions against Russia, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2024 reported on December 11 on X.
The European Union on Wednesday reached an agreement on new sanctions against Russia, targeting the Russian so-called ‘shadow fleet’, according to an official statement.
The new package targets a group of older, often uninsured tankers used to transport Russian oil and circumvent international sanctions.
The package “adds more persons and entities to the already existing sanctions list, and targets entities in Russia and in third countries other than Russia that indirectly contribute to Russia’s military and technological enhancement through the circumvention of export restrictions,” the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU explained.
“The adopted sanctions constrain the activity of additional vessels of third states operating to contribute or support actions or policies supporting Russia’s actions against Ukraine,” it added.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also commented on the proposed package: “The EU and its G7 partners are committed to keeping a pressure on the Kremlin. I welcome the agreement on our 15th package of sanctions, targeting in particular Russia’s shadow fleet.”
EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy / vice-president of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, hailed the news on X and wrote: “We must keep up strong pressure on Russia. Good to see the 15th sanctions package agreed. It will further weaken Putin’s war machine.”
Recently, a group of 12 coastal countries from the Baltic Sea and the North Sea met in Helsinki and Tallinn to discuss further joint actions against the Russian so-called ‘shadow fleet’.
Experts from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom affirmed their shared commitment to work collectively to confront, as they said, the environmental, maritime safety and security risks posed by the ‘shadow fleet’, in particular to all coastal states.
These concerns are widely shared by 46 countries and the European Union which have signed a Call to Action against the ‘shadow fleet’ at the European Political Community meeting hosted by the government of the United Kingdom in July 2024.
The regional expert group is focused on the activities of the ‘shadow fleet’ in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea where the risk for environmental and maritime accidents is compounded by the challenging conditions and the sensitive waters.
The group was initially called together by Denmark and the meeting held in Helsinki and Tallinn is the third in a row after Copenhagen and Oslo.
