12AUG

EU's 21st sanctions package stalls again

1 min read

14:52UTC

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.

← Back to The war moved from the air to the water Jump to analysis ↓

ConflictDeveloping

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

Read original →

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

Read story →

Different Perspectives

Russia

Russia vetoed the same renewal on 17 September, arguing that Britain, France and Germany never validly triggered the snapback that reimposed the pre-2015 UN resolutions. No panel was ever seated under that mandate, so the UN list decays fastest for states that screen against it rather than against the American one.

China

China vetoed renewal of the UN sanctions monitoring mandate on 17 September, arguing that Resolution 2231 terminated on 18 October 2025 and that the Security Council should drop Iran's nuclear file altogether. On that reading there is nothing to monitor, so the sanctions survive and their enforcement does not.

Iraq

Baghdad saw the last American counter-Islamic State troops leave its territory on 30 September, completing a timetable it agreed with Washington in September 2024. Iraqi airspace deconfliction passes to Baghdad, which still has an open inquiry into the Maysan drone launches that has named nobody.

Pakistan

Treasury names Waseem Pasha Tajammal of Rawalpindi as the Cavalier group's chairman and places one of the designated incorporations in Islamabad. QatarEnergy separately told Pakistan that liquefied natural gas cargo cancellations would run through November, so Islamabad carries an enforcement question and a supply gap at once.

Turkey

Treasury named a Cavalier Dynamics company incorporated in Istanbul among the ten nodes it designated on 29 September, and Ankara has published no response. Turkey imported a record 120,000 barrels a day of Indian diesel in August, cutting Russia's share of its diesel imports to 20 per cent.

India

Suraj Yadav, a wiper from Uttar Pradesh, was killed aboard the Cape Dao on 23 September, and 19 of the ship's 20 Indian crew were taken off alive. India's September imports ran at 575,000 barrels a day from Iraq and 566,000 from Saudi Arabia, back to pre-conflict rates.