The European Union has adopted three sweeping sanctions decisions in a single day, marking the most significant escalation of pressure on Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
Largest-Ever Expansion of Russia Sanctions
The Council of the EU confirmed its largest single expansion of Russia-related listings to date, adding nearly 1,600 individuals and entities to its sanctions framework . Of those, 743 are natural persons and 826 are legal entities connected to Russia’s military-industrial complex, with more than half linked to the ballistic missile production chain .
“This is the largest expansion of our sanctions list since Russia started the war,” EU High Representative Kaja Kallas stated on X. “We are making it significantly harder, slower and more expensive for Russia to produce the weapons it uses to kill Ukrainians” .
With this decision, the total number of Russia-related designations rises to approximately 3,500 — and, when combined with other sanctions regimes, nearly 4,600 individuals and entities now face EU asset freezes and travel bans .
77 Individuals Sanctioned Over Sham Duma Elections
In a parallel decision, the Council listed 77 individuals involved in the illegal so-called “elections” for the Russian State Duma held in September 2026 in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories .
The listings include 74 candidates who stood for election across the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic,” “Luhansk People’s Republic,” Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and the illegally annexed “Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.” By running in these sham elections, the Council stated, these individuals “actively contributed to efforts to legitimise Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to sustaining Russia’s illegal occupation”.
Additionally, the Council imposed restrictive measures on three members of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation for organising the sham elections:
-
Boris Safarovych Ebzeev — member of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation from 2021 to 2026. During his mandate, the commission organised illegal referendums in 2022 and illegal elections in September 2023 in occupied Ukrainian territories.
-
Andrey Yuryevich Shutov — member of the Central Election Commission from 2021 to 2026, similarly responsible for organising illegal votes aimed at legitimising Russia’s aggression .
-
Alexander Borisovych Kurdyumov — member of the Central Election Commission from 2021 to 2026; appointed chairman of the “Zhirinovsky Blok” in 2026 .
All three face asset freezes and travel bans across EU territory.
New DPRK Sanctions Over Nuclear and Missile Programmes
In a third decision, the Council added three individuals and four entities to its sanctions list concerning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, targeting those involved in the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programmes and its ties with Russia.
Targeted Companies and the Samolet Group
The expanded Russia listings include a significant number of Russian defence and industrial entities. Among those sanctioned is the Samolet Group (ПАО «Группа компаний «Самолет»), one of Russia’s largest real estate developers, which has been linked to supporting the military-industrial base through construction and infrastructure contracts.
