EU foreign ministers adopted the 22nd Russia sanctions package in Luxembourg on 12 October, with nearly 1,600 listings (asset freezes and travel bans on named people and firms), according to a post on X by Kaja Kallas, who leads EU foreign policy, relayed by TASS1. Ambassadors had approved 743 individuals and 826 entities on 7 October, Kyiv Post reported2. They added 77 people "purportedly elected" to the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, from occupied Ukrainian territory in the September vote, for 1,646 in all. Estonia later asked to drop one company and one person, TASS reported, so the adopted count may differ. TASS called it the largest package by listings since the invasion, with no significant new trade restrictions3.
Three weeks earlier Brussels traded names for time. On 22 September the Council of the European Union renewed its individual sanctions regime for 36 months, to 22 September 2029, in place of the usual six4. That sanctions regime holds the asset freezes on named people under Regulation 269/2014. The price was the delisting of three people, including Alisher Usmanov, at France's request, and Mikhail Fridman, at Luxembourg's; Latvia abstained and promised national sanctions of its own5.
No capital can now hold the individual listings hostage at a six-monthly renewal until 2029. A single capital has stalled Russia sanctions before: in July the 21st package failed its first vote at Coreper, the meeting of EU ambassadors, and cleared only after Slovakia dropped its hold-out.
