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EU's 21st sanctions package stalls again

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The EU's 21st Russia sanctions package failed to clear Coreper on 15 July. Greece wants LNG re-export rights preserved; Austria wants a Deripaska-linked firm delisted.

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Key takeaway

Watch which carve-outs make the final text, not whether the twenty-first package clears.

The European Union's 21st Russia sanctions package failed to clear Coreper, the committee of member states' permanent representatives in Brussels, on 15 July, with negotiators setting a new target of 22 July rather than letting it slip to autumn⁠¹. Greece wants to preserve re-export rights for Russian liquefied natural gas. Austria wants Rasperia, an investment firm linked to the sanctioned aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska, removed from the list so that frozen assets can be used to compensate Raiffeisen Bank International.

Neither objection is an argument about whether to pressure Moscow. Both are domestic commercial interests: Greek shipping's role in moving cargoes that pass through Europe rather than remaining in it, and Raiffeisen's search for compensation against its Russian exposure. Sanctions packages pass by unanimity, so a commercial interest in one member state carries the same stopping power as a strategic objection in another.

Each round of unanimity leaves its mark on the text. Holdouts extract a carve-out, the carve-out persists into later packages because reopening settled wording costs another round of unanimity, and the enforcement surface narrows even as the number on the package climbs. Brussels has been tightening on paper while Washington has been loosening in practice, most recently by letting its crude oil waiver lapse unrenewed. Whether Greece's LNG exemption and Austria's Rasperia demand survive into the final wording is the part worth watching on 22 July, not whether the package passes.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The European Union tries to pass new rounds of sanctions against Russia as a package, and this one, the 21st since the war began, failed to get the votes it needed at a meeting in Brussels on 15 July. Two countries are blocking it for different reasons: Greece wants to keep the right to re-export Russian liquefied natural gas to other countries, and Austria wants a specific investment firm removed from the sanctions list so its frozen assets can be used to compensate an Austrian bank that lost money doing business with it. EU sanctions need every member country to agree, so either objection alone is enough to stop the whole package. A new vote is set for 22 July.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

The package's two holdouts trace to different national exposures rather than a shared objection: Greece's shipping industry depends on revenue from re-exporting Russian LNG to third countries, while Austria's block is a compensation mechanism for Raiffeisen Bank International's frozen Russian exposure via Rasperia. Clearing the package therefore requires satisfying two unrelated national balance-sheet problems, not resolving one disputed principle.

Each objection is solvable in isolation (a carve-out for Greek re-export rights, a delisting tied to specific compensation terms for Austria), but EU sanctions require unanimity, so either holdout alone is enough to stall the whole 21st package regardless of how narrow its underlying demand is.

Sources:Ukrainska Pravda

Mentions:Moscow →Brussels →Russian LNG →Greece →Austria →Russia →Washington →European Union →Rasperia →Oleg Deripaska →Raiffeisen →

First Reported In

Update #24 · Fedorov sacked as the front stands still

Ukrainska Pravda· 19 Jul 2026

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Causes and effects

This Event

EU's 21st sanctions package stalls again

Two national carve-outs, neither about Russia policy, are holding an entire package.

Led to

EU clears its 21st sanctions package

The package's 23 July approval follows its failed 15 July Coreper vote.

Occurred 23 Jul 2026

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Different Perspectives

Council on Foreign Relations

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New York commuters / Assemblyman Bhalla

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French Football Federation

The FFF called an 11:00 CEST press conference for 28 July, at its Paris headquarters, following an extraordinary executive committee meeting, at which Zinedine Zidane is expected to be presented as head coach succeeding Didier Deschamps. As of this writing no communique confirms the appointment, contract length or start date.

Morocco

Morocco is pushing for the 2030 final at its Grand Stade Hassan II in Casablanca, a planned 115,000-seat venue that would be the world's largest football stadium on completion. The venue is contested by a Spanish petition for the Santiago Bernabeu, and FIFA has fixed neither the venue nor the tournament's proposed 64-team format.

FIFA

FIFA's first tournament report, published 27 July, itemises nearly 300,000 accredited personnel, 73,700 security staff and 300,000 square metres of custom-grown turf, with no revenue or cost figure attached. As a Swiss association answering to its own Congress rather than a treasury, FIFA has followed the same operational-before-financial sequence it used after Qatar 2022.

Javier Tebas / La Liga

La Liga president Javier Tebas said on 21 July that FIFA's system is rotten from the root and that Gianni Infantino's time as president has, in his words, concluded. Tebas has no vote in FIFA's process, so days after the IOC declined jurisdiction over a separate ethics complaint, he used the only instrument he has.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.