The EU may decide against imposing large-scale sanctions against russia

This is reported in an article in the Financial Times, according to “European Pravda”.

As the publication notes, European officials are seeking ways to speed up the approval of more targeted financial restrictions so that member states have fewer opportunities to exercise their veto during negotiations.

For several weeks, Greece has been demanding an exemption for Dynagas vessels so that they can continue to transport russian LNG, making this a condition of its agreement to a list of unrelated measures against russia.

Three officials said that work is currently under way to limit this tactic, which has become increasingly common during recent negotiations on EU sanctions, as the capitals of member states seek to protect companies that still do business with russia.

One idea gaining traction both within the European Commission and among the most pro-Ukrainian member states is to agree on and implement sanctions individually or in small thematic packages, rather than pursuing large packages.

Officials are convinced that this will reduce the risk of measures being delayed due to national vetoes.

“This may be the last ‘package’ of sanctions. It is now quite clear that this approach no longer works,” said one of the sources, referring to the measures on which agreement was finally reached on Thursday following several weeks of obstruction by Greece.

Since February 2022, the EU has adopted 21 packages of sanctions against russia, adhering to a policy of bundling measures and agreeing them collectively, subject to the unanimous support of the 27 Member States. However, this has increasingly led to situations where national vetoes on individual measures have held up other, unrelated restrictions that had the full support of all capitals.

This was most clearly illustrated last week, when Greece refused to approve the latest package until other EU states agreed to grant the shipping company Dynagas, owned by billionaire George Prokopiou, an exemption from an unrelated sanction agreed in October 2025, which prohibits it from transporting russian LNG to non-EU countries from January 2027.

Several EU diplomats involved in the negotiations described this tactic as “outrageous”.

“I don’t want to hear anyone talking about ‘solidarity’ any more,” remarked one of them.

Supporters of the new approach argue that strong and effective measures can be swiftly adopted by the EU Council without the unnecessary fanfare and public attention that accompany a ‘package’ approach. Individual objections will not be able to derail or delay the introduction of other sanctions.

However, some officials warn that the current strategy has allowed capitals to realise that many Member States suffer economic consequences from sanctions decisions, which would help convince them of the justification for bearing some of these losses.

Source: European Pravda