The package is the 18th in order and comes after Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, after a long period of saying no, has given up his resistance.
"The EU has just approved one of its hitherto strongest sanction packages against Russia", writes the EU's Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas on X.
The sanction package includes, among other things, that the price ceiling on Russian oil is in practice lowered from 60 to 47 US dollars per barrel, in order to further reduce Russian revenue from oil trade.
Additionally, sanctions are introduced against a further 105 vessels that are considered to be part of the "shadow fleet" that Russia uses to circumvent previous sanctions.
The package has been ready for a long time but has been blocked by the fact that Slovakia dislikes another EU proposal to phase out imports of all Russian gas by the end of 2027 at the latest. After negotiations, however, Prime Minister Fico now believes he has received sufficient guarantees from the EU Commission that the country will not be unfairly affected by the phase-out.
