War in Ukraine: aluminum, “ghost” oil trees … The EU approves a 16th package of sanctions against Russia

In almost three years, the European Union has already adopted 15 packets of sanctions targeting individuals and entities in Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine. The objective is to touch the Russian economy and therefore weaken its war machine. The ambassadors of the 27 have just added, this Wednesday, a 16th package of sanctions which will have to be formally adopted, next Monday by the foreign ministers of the EU.

This package of sanctions concerns in particular a ban on importing Russian aluminum. These imports of Russian aluminum had already dropped by 35 % in 2023 and this trend continued in 2024, according to European aluminum, which represents the sector in the EU. In 2023, they had brought in nearly 1.25 billion euros to Russia, according to this association. Added to this is, a ban on importing certain minerals or metals such as chrome.

“Ghost” oil tankers

The other “target” concerns 73 new “ghosts” oils, used by Moscow to circumvent existing sanctions intended to limit exports of Russian oil. This “ghost” fleet consists of often dilapidated and non -registered ships. They operate mainly in the Baltic Sea. Their number would have exploded since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after the EU and Western sanctions targeted Russian oil and petroleum products to dry up Russia.

In addition, these sanctions also affect people whose assets have been frozen and who have a ban on moving to the EU. In addition, 13 additional Russian banks will be disconnected from the SWIFT international financial system. A system that allows international transactions to be carried out.

Press to push Putin to sit at the negotiating table

“We are determined to maintain pressure on the Kremlin,” said the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on X, welcoming this announcement. For Jean-Noël Barrot, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, the objective is to “force Vladimir Putin to sit at the negotiating table”. « We will only get peace through pressure and that is why we will continue to weigh down the cost of war for Vladimir Putin, “he added on France Info.

These sanctions will be one of the challenges of peace negotiations that will open up to Ukraine between the United States and Russia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted on Tuesday that the EU should be present at the negotiating table to discuss it.

For its part, Russia wanted to be rather optimistic on Tuesday, saying to expect rapid “progress” in the economic component of talks with the United States. “We have a number of proposals on which our colleagues reflect. I think it will be possible to record progress not in the distant future, but in the next two months, “said Kirill Dmitriev, the boss of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Russian negotiator sent to Riyadh.

The Russian economy remains positive

It remains to be seen whether these sanctions packages are effective? The Russian government, last Friday, won GDP growth of 4.1 % in 2024 and an upward revision, at the same level, that of 2023, posted so far at 3.6 %. “This goes beyond expectations,” said Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine, during a meeting with Vladimir Putin disseminated by the Kremlin. These are the strongest growths of the Russian economy since 2010, apart from the post-Cavid rebound in 2021. Despite the sanctions, the exports were able to redeploy towards other markets, especially India and China or Turkey with Discount on substantial prices.

According to experts, this growth is largely explained thanks to the war effort and the contribution of domestic savings. Last year, the Russian Budget for Defense and Security as a whole had been around 8.7 % of GDP, a first in Russia since the fall of the USSR in 1991. This represented a third of expenses state.

However, the year 2025 according to the very confession of the Russian central bank, the expected growth could only be 1.6 %. In addition, inflation in the country around 10 % linked in particular to the shortage of labor (due to soldiers sent to Ukraine or left abroad) pushes companies to increase wages could cause Ugly movements in populations whose access to certain products have almost become inaccessible. Thus the price of butter increased by 36 % in 2024. In an attempt to limit this phenomenon, the central bank has already noted its interest rate to more than 20 %. However, if this limit prices increases, this also dissuades investments by individuals.