EU Commission to unveil new Russia sanctions on energy, banks

ABOARD THE M.S. JANTAR IN THE BALTIC SEA — The European Commission is expected to today present its latest tranche of sanctions on Russian energy exports and financial institutions.

Three EU officials who were granted anonymity to confirm the timing of the plan told POLITICO that the package — the 18th to be imposed on Moscow since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine — is set to be circulated later today.

The new measures are designed to restrict the operations of companies with links to the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, diplomats previously confirmed, as well as to the banks the Kremlin uses to move funds internationally.

They come ahead of a G7 summit in Alberta, Canada that begins this weekend, with a handful of other major economies including India, Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine invited to take part.

“We are primarily concerned with sanctioning Russian energy and drying up Russia’s sources of finance,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said of the 18th package last week.

Brussels has sought to build support in Washington for a joint push against the revenues Moscow is using to fund its war.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham recently toured Europe to pitch a proposal to hit countries that buy Russian fossil fuels with a 500 percent tariff. Von der Leyen has said the EU would support that push with its own measures, although it’s highly unlikely the bloc would match it, and the White House has yet to throw its weight behind the idea.