Von der Leyen: Adoption of 20th sanctions package against Russia is only matter of time

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is confident the next, 20th package of sanctions against Russia will be adopted and says it is only a matter of time.

At a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, von der Leyen said sanctions must be adopted unanimously, and that principle will not change. She added they worked on the 19th sanctions package quite successfully. According to her, none of these processes was easy when they negotiated any of the packages, but based on the experience of the previous, 19th package, she expressed confidence that they will also adopt the 20th.

Von der Leyen said it is only a matter of time and it must happen as soon as possible, but given that the common goal is to reduce Russia's revenues and take away the ability of its war machine to operate, they feel this pressure – to ensure this as quickly as possible.

In early February, von der Leyen said the EU's new 20th sanctions package against Russia would envisage a full ban on maritime transport of Russian oil and tighter export restrictions on Russia, an expansion of sanctions on the shadow fleet by another 43 vessels, and an anti-circumvention instrument. She said this would complement the EU ban on LNG imports agreed under the 19th package and the RepowerEU regulation.