EU, UK announce new Russia sanctions without waiting for Washington

Brussels/London — The EU and Britain announced new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday without waiting for the US to join them, a day after President Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin without securing  a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

London and Brussels said their new measures would zero in on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and financial companies that have helped it avoid the impact of other sanctions imposed over the war.

The new measures were announced without corresponding steps from Washington despite intense public lobbying from leaders of European countries for the Trump administration to join them.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland jointly travelled to Kyiv earlier this month and said they had new sanctions against Russia ready to go. European leaders then phoned Trump on the eve of his call with Putin to urge him to join them in imposing tougher measures.

Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in more than three years on Friday but failed to agree a ceasefire.

Ukraine says it is ready for an immediate ceasefire proposed by Trump, while Russia says it wants talks first. The Europeans say this is proof that Putin, who started the war by invading his neighbour in 2022, is not prepared to end it.

“Putin is clearly playing for time, unfortunately we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace,” Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius said.

‘Imperialist fantasy’

After announcing their measures on Tuesday, Brussels and London suggested that further sanctions could follow, making clear they have not given up hope of persuading Washington to act.

France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for “sanctions that are truly dissuasive. Let us push Vladimir Putin to put an end to his imperialist fantasy”.

UK foreign minister David Lammy said “delaying peace efforts will only redouble our resolve to help Ukraine to defend itself and use our sanctions to restrict Putin’s war machine”.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said more sanctions were “in the works. The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response”, she wrote on X.

The latest sanctions are aimed mainly at cracking down on a shipping fleet that Russia uses to export oil and circumvent a price cap of $60 a barrel imposed by the Group of Seven of industrialised countries to limit Russia’s income.

Britain and the EU said they would also work to lower the cap, which imposes far less of a discount on Russian oil now that global prices have fallen this year.

Still, Kallas made clear that action was needed from the US.

“We all agreed and said ... that if they don’t agree to unconditional ceasefire, like Ukraine has agreed more than 60 days ago, there will be strong action,” she said. “And that is what we want to see from all the parties who have said that they will act in accordance.”

Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine were ready to start negotiations. Putin said the process would take time.

Reuters