Exclusive: EU is also planning against “propagandists of the Russian regime”.

The EU wants to adopt a new package of sanctions against Russia on the third anniversary of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2025. WELT AM SONNTAG reports this, citing unanimous information from diplomatic circles in Brussels. The new measure would be the 16th sanctions package.

Informed EU diplomats said the package was intended as a “clear signal” to Moscow and would include “measures against specific sectors of the Russian economy that have not yet been covered or have been inadequately covered.” In addition, the 16th sanctions package should include further services from people and organizations that “are seen as propagandists of the Russian regime and are responsible for undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” it said.

The EU Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) also plan to impose entry and asset bans on other people who spied for Russia and were involved in disinformation campaigns, including in Germany. At the EU summit this week, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to agree to further sanctions and said he wanted to wait until Donald Trump took office on January 20th.

In Brussels it was said that it would be “challenging” to track down the involvement of people in so-called hybrid Russian attacks and to prove that they were involved. That is why it has not yet been clearly decided whether there will be sanctions on February 24th for spying on Russia and disinformation.

It was only in mid-December (December 16) that the Council adopted the 15th sanctions package against Russia. In particular, 52 other ships from the Russian shadow fleet, whose aim is to circumvent sanctions, were punished by banning access to ports and certain services. Sanctions due to so-called hybrid Russian attacks were imposed by the EU for the first time on December 17th.