On July 23, 2026, the European Union adopted its 21st package of restrictive measures against Russia in response to its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The new package introduces tough economic sanctions targeting key sectors that fuel the Russian economy and sustain its capacity to wage war.

The EU has significantly expanded restrictions against Russia’s financial and banking sectors, freezing assets and prohibiting fund transfers for 94 banks and major financial institutions. Additionally, transaction bans were imposed on a Kyrgyz bank linked to Russia’s SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) and three other non-Russian banks involved in sanctions circumvention.

The package also targets 14 crypto platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. For the first time, the EU introduced a mechanism for a complete ban on crypto-asset services involving third countries as a powerful deterrent against sanctions evasion. This tool empowers the EU to block transactions between EU operators and any crypto provider utilised by Russia.

Furthermore, the 21st package hits Russian energy and metallurgy revenues by solidifying the current price cap and expanding restrictions on the “shadow fleet,” oil refineries, and raw materials trading. It imposes substantial constraints on Russia’s military-industrial complex and its partners in third countries, tightening export controls on technology (particularly for UAV production) and broadening import bans on lucrative Russian commodities. The package also lays the groundwork for visa bans on Russian military personnel, introduces personal sanctions on decision-makers, propagandists, and war criminals, implements mirrored restrictions on Belarus, and offers legal protection to European businesses against Russian court rulings.

In total, the 21st package targets 218 entities – 48 individuals and 170 legal entities. Among those placed under European sanctions are 9 subjects previously featured in StateWatch investigations and analytical reports:

• Mikhail Safarbekovich Gutseriev – a Russian billionaire, founder, and ultimate beneficiary of the Safmar Group, which holds assets in oil extraction, finance, real estate, retail, and hospitality. Gutseriev’s EU sanctions expired in February 2026, but the EU has now reinstated restrictions on his European operations.
• Olga Aleksandrovna Korchagina – co-founder (60% stake) of LLC Simbirsk Design Bureau ‘Piranha’, a company producing one-way FPV strike drones (Piranha-7, Piranha-10, and Piranha-13) used by Russia against Ukraine. The enterprise itself was sanctioned under the previous 20th package.
• Pavel Alekseevich Chernyshov – co-founder (40% stake) and director of the aforementioned LLC Simbirsk Design Bureau ‘Piranha’.
• PJSC AFK Sistema – a major conglomerate controlling companies across key sectors of the Russian economy, including energy, agriculture, electronics, pulp and paper, etc. Sistema is jointly controlled by Vladimir Yevtushenkov and his son, Felix Yevtushenkov, who was also included in the 21st package. AFK Sistema has established several microelectronics ventures, including Element, a joint project with Rostec, and Russia’s largest microelectronics manufacturer supplying weapons producers.
• LLC First Diamond Company – a Russian exporter of rough and polished diamonds founded in May 2022, shortly after US sanctions targeted Alrosa. Managed by former Alrosa employees, the company rapidly scaled up exports of large diamond volumes to foreign markets, frequently routing them through intermediary jurisdictions.
• LLC KB ‘LiS’ – a producer of Gortensiya FPV drones, which have been actively deployed by the Russian Armed Forces since 2022.
• LLC Russian Air Transport Laboratory – a manufacturer of Ovod FPV drones used by the Russian military. Batches of Ovod drones were deployed to units of the Russian South military grouping as early as July 2023.

StateWatch analysts have previously detailed other individuals and companies included in earlier European Union sanctions lists.