Overview of EU’s 19th sanctions package against Russia

On 23 October 2025, the European Union (EU) has adopted its nineteenth sanctions package in relation to Russia. Please refer to EU relevant Regulations and Council decisions for their full content and to your usual contact at Simmons & Simmons for any further information or advice.

The main measures of this new package are summarized below.

Finance and Crypto Providers

The EU has imposed restrictions on the Russian state-backed stablecoin A7A5, its developer, issuer, and trading platform. Transactions involving this asset are now banned in the EU.

Eight banks and oil traders from Central Asia, the UAE, and Hong Kong are now subject to a transaction ban.

Five additional Russian banks – Istina, Zemsky Bank, Commercial Bank Absolut Bank, MTS Bank, and Alfa-Bank – are also targeted using the same measure.

Moreover, four banks from Belarus and Kazakhstan are also put under a transaction ban, due to their connections to Russian financial messaging and payment systems.

Energy

The new package introduces a phased ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports—effective January 2027 for long-term contracts and within six months for short-term arrangements. The EU has further tightened transaction prohibitions on Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, while also designating several entities facilitating Russian oil revenues, including Chinese refineries and traders.

Additional measures target the “shadow fleet” used to circumvent the oil price cap, with 117 vessels newly banned from EU ports, bringing the total to 557. The EU has also prohibited reinsurance of shadow fleet vessels.

Services

All services to the Russian government now require prior authorisation. The package further limits the provision of AI, high-performance computing, and commercial space-based services to Russian entities, and bans services linked to tourism operations in Russia.

Military

The EU is expanding sanctions against Russia’s military-industrial network, including businesspersons, suppliers, and entities from China, the UAE, India, and Thailand involved in providing dual-use or military goods.

Forty-five new entities face export restrictions on technologies such as microelectronics, UAVs, and machine tools.

The export ban now also covers a wider range of chemicals, metals, and materials used in weapons manufacturing.

A new prohibition on imports of all acyclic hydrocarbons and the listing of Russia’s largest gold producer aim to further limit revenue streams.