EU proposes sweeping sanctions targeting Russian banks, crypto and oil trade

The European Union moved to widen its sanctions campaign against Russia with a 21st package that goes straight at the financial plumbing behind Moscow’s war effort. Presented in Brussels on June 9, 2026, the proposal would target close to 90 banks, add 11 crypto platforms and expand pressure on oil traders, refiners and drone manufacturers. The package still needs unanimous approval from EU member states before it can take effect.

The banking measures are the clearest sign that Brussels is trying to do more than add names to a list. If adopted, the package would bring the total number of listed banks to more than 100, or more than half of Russia’s 213 internationally connected lenders. It would impose asset freezes and transaction bans on banks in Russia and in third countries, tightening the channels that have helped Moscow move money around earlier restrictions. Officials are also preparing new restrictions on crypto-asset services, a response to the growing role of digital platforms in sanctions evasion.

The proposal reaches beyond finance into the sectors that keep Russia’s wartime economy running. It would add more than 30 designations in the drone manufacturing sector, a direct hit on supplies tied to the battlefield. It would also sanction 30 additional shadow-fleet vessels, impose transaction bans on two Russian ports and four airports, and freeze the Russian oil price-cap adjustment mechanism. New limits on the resale of LNG tankers to Russia are meant to make it harder for Moscow to replenish the shipping network that moves sanctioned energy.

Brussels is also widening the net around suppliers outside Russia. The package includes export-control measures on 50 companies in third countries, including entities based in China, Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and India. That broadens enforcement beyond Russian borders and tests whether the bloc can close the loopholes that have kept trade routes, shipping and payments open.

Ursula von der Leyen said Russia’s economy was “slowing sharply,” while Kaja Kallas has argued that the EU wants to deal a heavy blow to Russia’s financial sector and push Moscow toward a peace deal. After 20 previous rounds, the new proposal is less about symbolism than leverage: it tries to raise the cost of evasion, squeeze revenue, and force more of the war economy into the open.