The European Union (EU) on Thursday (23 July) adopted the 21st package of restrictive measures against Russia, targeting bunkering vessels for the first time. The EU is continuing to target the shadow fleet by extending the scope of the existing rules also to cover vessels supporting the shadow fleet, by providing bunkering and other services, and listing 41 more vessels on top of the 632 already sanctioned. “The criteria for vessels listings are expanded to target for the first time ships that provide services to these vessels. Five bunkering vessels that have regularly refuelled already-designated tankers are also designated,” the EU said. The package also introduced a notification obligation for the sales of LNG tankers and a possibility to introduce new restrictions on the sale of LNG tankers to Russian citizens and companies and introduces other contractual obligations to mitigate the risk of reselling to Russia or for use in Russia. The measures in the package focus on the sectors with the greatest impact: energy; financial services, including crypto; trade; and the Russian military-industrial complex.   Photo credit: Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash Published: 27 July, 2026