On April 23, 2026, the European Union adopted its 20th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, as announced on the official website of the European Council. In total, approximately 200 new entities were placed under various restrictions, including 11 subjects of StateWatch investigations and analytical reports.

Who was included in the sanctions list

Personal sanctions affected individuals and legal entities involved in the energy and military-industrial complex of the aggressor state. Of these, 36 entities are linked to the extraction, processing and transportation of Russian oil, while another 58 individuals and companies are involved in the production of military goods and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The sanctions package also targets Russia’s dependence on third countries for the supply of high-technology products. In particular, the EU has sanctioned 16 organizations based in China, the UAE, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus that supplied dual-use goods to enterprises within Russia’s military-industrial complex.

Restrictive measures against Russia’s financial sector were also tightened. The package includes 20 Russian banks and introduces a full sectoral ban on transactions with Russian crypto exchanges, as well as other platforms enabling cryptocurrency trading.

Countering sanctions circumvention

In addition to the list of personal restrictions, the 20th package expands the annex to the EU Council decision related to sectoral sanctions. The export ban now extends to additional categories of lubricants, metals, minerals, chemicals, rubber and steel products, metalworking tools and industrial tractors.

Under the decision, additional restrictions are imposed on a number of individuals who support Russia’s military-industrial complex and assist Russia in circumventing sanctions. This includes 32 more Russian organizations and 28 companies based in third jurisdictions – China, Hong Kong, Turkey, the UAE and Thailand.

The EU is also applying its anti-circumvention tool, which prohibits the export of certain European goods not only to Russia but also to third countries. The mechanism was introduced as far back as the 11th sanctions package but is now being activated for the first time. Metalworking machinery and telecommunications equipment are henceforth banned from import into the Kyrgyz Republic, as the country has demonstrated a systematic inability to prevent the resale of such equipment to Russia.

StateWatch targets under EU sanctions

The list of legal entities placed under European sanctions includes 11 subjects of StateWatch investigations and analytical reports. Some of them are companies registered in third jurisdictions that supplied sanctioned goods to Russia:

• Meryn Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi – a Turkish supplier founded in July 2023. According to Russian import data, in 2024 the company shipped high-priority goods to Russia with a total value exceeding $1.8 million.
• Abem Global Ithalat Ihracat Anonim Sirketi – a Turkish company founded in January 2024, specializing in wholesale and foreign trade. According to Russian customs data, in 2024 the company supplied Russian enterprises with goods of European origin subject to sanctions, with a total value exceeding $460,000.
• Al Baraka Group for Investment and Trading LLC FZ – a supplier from the United Arab Emirates that in 2024 shipped bearings of German and Japanese origin, as well as other goods, to Russia. The total value of supplied sanctioned goods exceeded $900,000.
• Raw Materials Cellulose – a company from Uzbekistan that supplied raw materials for explosives production to Russia.

Among the individuals subjected to restrictions is a multimillionaire and a United Russia party member Andrei Molchanov – a shareholder of PJSC Gruppa LSR, which is engaged in the production of construction materials. StateWatch previously reported on the confiscation of Molchanov’s assets in Ukraine.

The new EU sanctions package also includes Oleg Kosolapov, general director of LLC Complex Unmanned Solutions Center. Kosolapov took over as head of the enterprise on May 20, 2025 – the same day the previous director of the center was added to the EU’s 17th sanctions list and stepped down.

A number of Russian UAV manufacturers were also subjected to restrictions. Several of them appear in the FPV Drones as One of the Main Instruments of Russia’s War report, published by StateWatch in 2024:

• LLC Simbirsk Design Bureau Piranya – a design bureau engaged in the production of Piranya-7, Piranya-10, and Piranya-13 FPV drones.
• JSC Optical-Mechanical Design Bureau Astron – a design bureau specializing in the development and production of thermal imaging optics, detectors, and devices based on them. It manufactures the FPV drones Kurs-800TB and Granat-PG, as well as the Blokpost reconnaissance thermal imaging systems.
• LLC Aero-Hit – a developer and manufacturer of strike and reconnaissance UAVs of the Veles-1 type, used in the war against Ukraine.
• JSC Kotlin-Novator – a company engaged in the development, production, and modernization of flight and navigation systems for military transport aircraft and UAVs.
• LLC Aeromaks – an enterprise that provides UAV services in the areas of cargo delivery, remote sensing, monitoring and geoinformation system deployment. In 2023, the company opened an aviation training center for UAV operators.

StateWatch analysts have previously reported on individuals and companies included in prior EU sanctions lists.