Brussels – On Wednesday, the European Union’s 19th round of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine was removed from the agenda for a meeting of EU government representatives in Brussels, according to EU diplomats, reports 24brussels.
The meeting of EU ambassador representatives to the European Union, known as COREPER, was convened to discuss the sanctions package that the European Commission has been preparing for some time. However, no new date for these discussions has been scheduled, the diplomats indicated.
“It was taken off the COREPER agenda late yesterday afternoon. No new date is planned,”
one diplomat stated.
A day prior, a representative from the European Commission indicated that the 19th package of sanctions against Russia was still being finalized. “To my knowledge, we haven’t yet put it on the table. It is being prepared. That’s what we can tell you for the moment,” Paula Pinho, chief spokesperson for the European Commission, noted.
“When it comes to our work around sanctions, since our first package, and this is the 19th, what we do is to make it function as well as it should, to make those sanctions as effective as they can possibly be,”
Olof Gill, deputy chief spokesperson for the European Commission, added.
Overview of EU Sanctions Against Russia
The EU initially imposed its first sanctions package against Russia on February 23, 2022, following Russia’s recognition of the non-government-controlled Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities, accompanied by the deployment of Russian troops into these territories.
Since then, the European Union has implemented 18 sanctions packages targeting various sectors including energy revenue, financial institutions, and the military-industrial complex. These measures have included asset freezes and export bans on individuals, entities, and vessels associated with Russia’s military actions.
The latest package, the 18th, was adopted on July 18, 2025, encompassing measures designed to curtail Russia’s energy revenues, enhance anti-circumvention efforts, and address accountability for war crimes, among other objectives.
