EU imposes more sanctions on Russia, in compromise deal

European Union countries agreed Thursday to impose another round of energy and banking sanctions on Russia, as they look to keep up pressure while Ukraine tries to build on recent gains after more than four years of grinding war with Moscow.

The decision follows weeks of negotiations, in which some European capitals, seeking to protect national interests, requested exemptions.

“At a time when Ukraine has built military momentum, our sanctions continue to weaken the economic foundations of Russia’s war effort,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said early Thursday.

Negotiations centered on plans to ban the transportation of Russian liquefied natural gas, but Greece, a global shipping power, emerged as a holdout. The country sought carve-outs for its shipping industry to allow Greek carrier Dynagas to continue transferring Russian LNG to customers outside the E.U.

In a compromise, the E.U.’s 27 countries included a one-year exemption allowing operators to keep transporting Russian LNG to third countries for contracts dating to 2022 (the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022). The decision prohibits E.U. companies from starting new contracts and the exemption will be reviewed annually, two European diplomats said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The agreement freezes a price cap on Russian oil for one year. That cap was set to rise, in line with higher global rates, because of the impact of the U.S. war against Iran.

The sanctions package, the E.U.’s 21st round of measures targeting Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, includes expanding a transaction ban to cover 32 Russian banks, in addition to the wide-ranging sanctions in place on the Russian banking sector, among other measures. The details are not all public, as officials continue legal and technical work on the sanctions.

The negotiations highlighted the challenge facing bloc in hitting Russian coffers at a time when the Trump administration has not shown consistent interest in pressuring Moscow.

A U.S. push for a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv initiated last year has largely fizzled out.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the U.S. remains ready to help negotiate a settlement if the ​opportunity arises. He spoke after meeting with Russian ‌Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a gathering of Southeast Asian nations in Manila.

Rubio said the war has incurred huge costs for both Russia and Ukraine and declined to endorse the European view that the battlefield momentum is shifting in Ukraine’s favor.

“We want a peace deal. We want the war to end. We’re prepared to play whatever positive role we can to end the war,” Rubio told reporters.

Asked about his Russian counterpart’s summary of their meeting, which included Moscow’s opposition to U.S. arms transfers to Ukraine, Rubio responded that Washington was selling weapons, rather than providing them free to Kyiv.

Some key U.S. systems, paid for by European governments, have continued going to Ukraine under a NATO-brokered deal.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Lavrov described arming Kyiv as unacceptable and criticized “the destabilizing policies of European countries seeking to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he “wouldn’t be overly optimistic” after the meeting. “Contacts are indeed taking place, which is always positive, but there’s no reason to speak of any new momentum,” he said Thursday.

Moscow has been under mounting pressure from Ukrainian long-range drone strikes, including on e-commerce Wildberries warehouses. Ahead of Russian parliamentary elections in September, the Ukrainian attacks, as well as some fuel shortages, have undercut the Kremlin’s effort to shield Russian citizens from the war’s impact.

For the E.U., finding new ways to target Russia has become increasingly tricky. Few sectors have been spared from European sanctions.

A proposal to ban Russian fish imports appears to have been dropped from Thursday’s agreement after objections from the fishing industry, including groups in Germany and Portugal.

“We see that with each new package, the more economic interests of member states are taking the lead in the discussion,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said during talks on the sanctions.

Beatriz Rios, Natalia Abbakumova and John Hudson contributed to this report.