EconomyFinancePolitics Russian LNG, aluminum, and the shadow fleet: What’s the new EU sanctions bundle concentrating on? Thursday, January 30, 2025

The sixteenth bundle of EU sanctions concentrating on Russia won’t embrace a normal ban on the import of Russian LNG. As an alternative, LNG provides to terminals not related to the EU’s widespread fuel distribution system shall be halted. These restrictions won’t impression most imports from Russia.

Moreover, the European Fee is proposing a phased ban on importing Russian aluminum. Europeans should buy Russian metallic beneath a quota system for one 12 months earlier than a full ban takes impact.

The sanctions will even disconnect roughly 15 Russian banks from the SWIFT system, together with measures concentrating on greater than 70 vessels of the shadow oil tanker fleet.

Concurrently, the EC has initiated duties on a number of agricultural merchandise and nitrogen fertilizers from Russia and Belarus. These agricultural gadgets comprised 15% of Russian imports to the EU in 2023. Nevertheless, the measures won’t restrict Russian exports of those merchandise to 3rd international locations. Russia is at present the world’s largest exporter of fertilizers, holding a share round 18%.