Ambassadors of European Union member states reached an agreement on the adoption of a new package of sanctions against Russia, the 11th since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden said on Wednesday.

“EU ambassadors today agreed on the 11th package of sanctions against Russia. The package includes measures to counter sanctions evasion and individual lists,” the rotating EU chair, which Sweden took over earlier this year, announced on her Twitter page.

The Associated Press notes that a detailed description of the new measures will be available later this week when the sanctions package is officially adopted in writing.

The EU has previously adopted 10 other sanctions packages against Russia in the nearly 16 months since the invasion launched by Vladimir Putin.

They targeted the Russian banking and financial system, the country’s energy industry and oil exports, the Russian arms industry, and elites close to the Kremlin. More than 1,000 Russian officials are currently subject to sanctions that include asset freezes in the West and travel bans.

The EU bloc adopted a preliminary package of sanctions against Moscow on February 24, a year after the start of the aggression against Ukraine, the largest in Europe since the end of World War II.

The package included export restrictions on dual-use goods, as well as measures against organizations that support war, spread propaganda or deliver drones used by Russia.

The first information about the new package of sanctions adopted by the EU

According to diplomatic sources familiar with the progress of the negotiations, the new package of sanctions will focus more on strengthening and enhancing existing ones, as well as on measures to prevent circumvention by sanctioned entities.

“I welcome the political agreement on our 11th sanctions package. He will deal an even bigger blow to Putin’s war machine by tightening export restrictions targeting pro-Kremlin organizations. Our anti-circumvention tool will prevent Russia from seizing goods under sanctions,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Poland’s ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sados said that the new package of sanctions applies to 70 individuals and 30 legal entities, as well as to the export of oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline.

According to the Polish official, the new sanctions concern persons “responsible for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children” from the occupied territories, and companies “that circumvent sanctions and support the efforts of the Russian army.”

We’ll be back with details as they become available.

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