EU must not stop, Lithuanian FM says as EU leaders agree on sanctions against Russia

2025-10-23
BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – The European Union must not stop and must move forward with further restrictions, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says after the bloc on Thursday adopted its 19th package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia.

"The EU must not stop here and must move forward with further restrictions aimed at a complete ban on the export of dual-use goods to Russia, nuclear energy and alternative financing channels that ensure Russia's military economy access to critically needed technologies," Lithuania's top diplomat underlined.

This time, he said, the sanction package is aimed at the driving force behind Russia's war economy – fossil fuel exports. Under the new EU measures, the 27-country bloc has brought forward the ban on liquefied natural gas imports from Russia by one year to the beginning of 2027.

Figures from the Foreign Ministry show that the EU imported more than 7 billion euros worth of liquefied natural gas from Russia last year, and it also imported 5.2 billion euros worth of LNG in the first eight months of this year.

In addition, more than 100 tankers from the so-called shadow fleet, which consists of aging oil tankers, were added to the blacklist. Currently, a total of 564 ships are subject to EU sanctions.

Controls on the travel of Russian diplomats suspected of espionage have also been introduced, meaning that Russian diplomats must inform the authorities of the countries in which they reside of any trips abroad.

The new package of sanctions includes individual restrictive measures against 64 additional persons and entities responsible for actions that violate Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions against Russia's two largest oil companies. They sanctions include the freezing of all Rosneft and Lukoil assets in the United States and a ban on all US companies from doing business with the two Russian oil giants.