Brussels Eyes New Sanctions Package as Russia Pummels Ukraine

Welcome to the Brussels Edition. I’m Suzanne Lynch, Bloomberg’s Brussels bureau chief, bringing you the latest from the EU each weekday. Make sure you’re signed up.

Ukrainian, Russian and US officials are due to resume trilateral negotiations tomorrow in Abu Dhabi, the latest attempt to bring the four-year war to an end. In Brussels, attention is already turning to the next sanctions package against Russia.

The EU has introduced 19 such bundles targeting Moscow since Russian tanks rolled into northern Ukraine in February 2022. The most recent, signed off by EU leaders in October, included a phase-out of Russian LNG purchases, as well as sanctions on the country’s banks, crypto exchanges and entities in India and China — large buyers of Russian oil.

As Alberto Nardelli reported yesterday, the EU is now considering banning Russian imports of several platinum group metals and copper as part of its latest sanctions package. The restrictions may cover iridium, rhodium, platinum and copper, according to people familiar with the matter.

The move could see European companies prohibited from providing services such as insurance and transportation needed to move Russia’s oil regardless of the price of the commodity.

However, all these proposals need to get unanimous backing from member states, and several capitals have already indicated they’re against replacing the price cap with a ban on services, according to the people.

The discussions in Brussels take place against the backdrop of renewed Russian attacks after a brief moratorium on strikes against infrastructure sought by Donald Trump. Russia struck with 450 drones and more than 70 missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, with Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Dnipro attacked.