EU Targets Vietnam, Turkey, and Russia’s Shadow Fleet in 17th Sanctions Package

The European Union has proposed fresh sanctions targeting companies in Vietnam, Turkey, and Serbia accused of enabling Russia to evade existing embargoes, according to a Financial Times report citing four individuals familiar with the measure.

The 17th package of EU sanctions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine also seeks to blacklist 149 oil tankers operating in Moscow’s “shadow fleet” and approximately 60 individuals and entities based in Russia and China.

The proposed measures, shared with EU capitals on Tuesday and set for ambassadorial review on Wednesday, require unanimous approval from all 27 member states and may be amended. The plan is viewed by some EU officials as a test of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s willingness to maintain sanctions, amid growing alignment with U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for a ceasefire and restoration of economic ties with Moscow.

More than 20 companies are named in the draft, including entities in the UAE, Turkey, Serbia, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan. If adopted, it would mark the first EU sanctions against a Vietnamese firm for supporting the Kremlin. The package also expands restrictions on dual-use goods—such as chemicals and machine tool components—and proposes extending an exemption for Russia’s Sakhalin energy project, vital to Japan, until June 2026.