The European Union members agreed Wednesday on a 19th sanctions package against Moscow, which will ban imports of Russian liquified natural gas from 2027.
The import ban aims to further reduce Russia's revenues from the sale of fossil fuels which are used to fund the war in Ukraine.
Further punitive measures in the financial and trade sectors are also included, as well as restrictions on the freedom of movement of Russian diplomats within the EU, according to the Danish EU Council presidency.
Following Wednesday's agreement, the formal decision on the sanctions package is considered a formality and is to be made in a written procedure early on Thursday.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was seen as a stumbling block in getting the sanctions passed, dropped his opposition on Wednesday after getting wording he demanded into the final version of the declaration.
The package was presented last month by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who warned that purchasing fossil fuels from Russia was financing the Russian war effort. "It is time to turn off the tap," she said at the time.
The EU was also under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who tied further U.S. sanctions on Russia to European partners imposing high tariffs on Chinese imports and halting purchases of Russian oil.
According to a recent study published by the environmental organization Greenpeace, Russia is profiting significantly from LNG sales to companies in the EU, after only pipeline gas deliveries from Russia have declined significantly in recent years.
Greenpeace named the French company TotalEnergies, the German state-owned energy company SEFE and the Spanish company Naturgy as major LNG customers of Russia in the EU.
Their purchases of liquefied natural gas have reportedly generated billions in profit for the Russian state since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The proposal for the new sanctions package also included further punitive measures in the financial sector and additional trade restrictions.
The plans envisage denying further banks from Russia and Moscow's allies access to EU capital markets and prohibiting transactions with them.
The commission also aims to crack down on the use of cryptocurrency platforms to circumvent existing sanctions.
The new package also proposed export bans on goods used by the Russian arms industry and measures against additional companies active in the area.
Under the plans, over 100 more ships that are part of the so-called Russian shadow fleet used to circumvent energy sanctions are to no longer be allowed to enter ports in EU countries, or be insured, financed or equipped by European companies.
This would bring the total amount of sanctioned vessels to over 500.
