The EU extends the sanctions

The EU is implementing its largest sanctions increase to date as 1,600 new names are added to the lists concerning Russia's warfare in Ukraine. At the same time, protective measures are being prepared in anticipation of the US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). An excerpt from Dagens Nyheter, 2026-10-12 17:48 Original address of the article: https://www.dn.se/varlden/eu-utokar-sanktionerna-slar-mot-tusentals-fler/ The EU is implementing its largest sanctions increase to date as 1,600 new names are added to the lists concerning Russia's warfare in Ukraine. At the same time, protective measures are being prepared in anticipation of the US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). You know you can create a free account on DN? As a logged-in user you can access several smart features. – Europe has once again shown a united front, says the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas at the press conference after the new EU sanctions were agreed upon at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU countries in Luxembourg. Most of the sanctions affect persons connected to Russia's development of ballistic robots. The names are listed in over 1,000 pages in the formal decisions. In practical terms, the sanctions entail entry bans to the EU and frozen assets as well as the fact that they are no longer allowed to have any economic relations with persons and companies in the union. The foreign ministers of the EU are simultaneously grappling with how to handle a whole range of the US's latest proposals – not least regarding the "energy weapons truce" that President Donald Trump claims to have pushed through. – There was support from the ministers today for an energy weapons truce... but only if Moscow complies, says Kallas. Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) also regrets both Trump's claims about holding elections in Ukraine and the decision to allow the import of Russian diesel. – It is not relevant at all to hold any elections in Ukraine as long as there is at least a ceasefire, but preferably peace, she says on her way to the meeting. The question is also how the EU will handle the sanctions that the US has promised against the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Belgium's Minister for Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot wants to investigate whether it is possible to use a special EU treaty that orders the EU countries not to follow the US sanctions – something that Maria Malmer Stenergard is also open to. – If it is necessary to activate the blocked treaty, then we must do so too, she says in Luxembourg. The treaty is formally an EU regulation that protects companies and citizens in the EU from the consequences of laws and sanctions imposed by other countries. This implies, among other things, that judgments and decisions based on the legislation are not considered applicable in the EU. So far it has been used so that Europeans do not suffer US measures against Cuba in the 1990s and Iran in the 2010s. Kaja Kallas states that the six months remaining before the US sanctions take effect provide room for negotiations – but also that the EU is ready to act. – The EU has alternatives to ensure that the court can continue its important work, says the foreign policy chief.