EU freezes oil price cap and targets Russian banks in 21st sanctions package, but fish import curbs are dropped after German-led pushback

What the package contains

EU ambassadors in Brussels agreed on the 21st sanctions package against Russia on the morning of 23 July 2026, after weeks of negotiations that had repeatedly stalled. The package will blacklist 32 additional banks, target Russian crypto firms and oil trading platforms, and impose entry bans on Russian soldiers. It also expands export restrictions on goods and technologies used by Russia's military industry. The formal adoption and publication of the final legal texts is still pending.

Oil price cap frozen

A central element is the suspension of the automatic adjustment of the oil price cap for twelve months. The cap, introduced in 2022 jointly with the United States, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom, limits the price at which Russian oil can be sold to third countries such as India, China, or Turkey. Without the freeze, the cap would have risen in response to higher world market prices driven by the Iran war and the near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, channelling more revenue to Moscow. Companies involved in transporting Russian oil above the cap face sanctions, including shipping firms and providers of insurance, technical assistance, and financing.

Fish sanctions removed

Proposed import restrictions on Russian Alaska pollock and cod were dropped from the package entirely. The European Commission had suggested halving EU imports of Alaska pollock from Russia within two years, but the plan met what the Financial Times described as increasingly loud resistance from several member states worried about economic damage to their own industries. Germany, France, and Portugal pushed for the measures to be weakened or scrapped. When compromise proposals failed to find a consensus, the whole fish section was removed. Germany was reportedly willing to accept a compromise, but other capitals demanded even further concessions.

Germany's sensitivity is rooted in numbers: according to Eurostat data, roughly 40 percent of the EU's total import value of Russian fish products in 2025 went to Germany. German imports of fish and fish products from Russia have nearly tripled since 2021, per the Federal Statistical Office. The country is home to what experts describe as the world's largest fish finger factories, and the industry had warned of production cuts and higher consumer prices for fish fingers, gourmet fillets, and other frozen fish products.

Other national carve-outs

Greece secured an exemption for its shipping companies: a planned ban on transporting Russian liquefied natural gas to third countries will not apply as comprehensively as originally designed, because existing contracts remain untouched for now. Bulgaria blocked sanctions against Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Europe should remain closed to anyone involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had presented the proposals in early June, said four years after the start of the full-scale invasion Russia had clearly failed to subdue Ukraine and the price it pays grows higher every day. People had to mourn sons, brothers, and husbands and were facing a declining standard of living, she added.

The negotiations exposed a recurring dilemma: with the list of punitive measures already long, finding new sanctions that hurt Russia perceptibly while causing comparatively little harm to EU businesses and third countries is becoming increasingly difficult. Several capitals argued that sanctions must not cause greater economic damage inside the EU than in Russia.