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Brussels is considering a new approach to Russia sanctions after Greece held up a large package of EU measures to protect a shipping tycoon.
European officials are looking at ways to speed up approval of more targeted financial restrictions so that member states have less opportunity to use vetoes in negotiations.
Athens spent weeks demanding a waiver for Dynagas ships to keep transporting lucrative Russian LNG as its price for agreeing to a slate of unrelated measures targeting Moscow’s financial system and oil export revenues.
Three officials said there is now work under way on how to curb the tactic, which has become increasingly prevalent in recent EU sanctions negotiations as capitals seek to protect companies still doing business with Russia.
One idea gaining traction both inside the European Commission and among the most pro-Ukraine member states is to agree and implement sanctions individually or in small thematic batches rather than aiming for large packages for public relations purposes. The officials said this would lower the risk of measures being held up due to national vetoes.
“This could be the last ‘package’ of sanctions,” said one of the people, referring to the measures finally agreed on Thursday after weeks of Greek obstruction. “It’s now very clear that this approach does not work any more.”
The EU has passed 21 so-called packages of sanctions against Russia since February 2022, through a policy of bundling together measures and agreeing them collectively through unanimous support of the 27 member states — often for reasons of visibility or to be announced on specific dates, such as the anniversaries of Russia’s invasion.
But that has increasingly meant that national vetoes on particular measures have held up other unrelated restrictions that have the full support of all capitals.
That was most egregiously demonstrated last week when Greece refused to approve the latest package unless the other EU states agreed to grant Dynagas, a shipping company owned by billionaire George Prokopiou, an exemption from an unrelated sanction agreed in October 2025 banning it from transporting Russian LNG to non-EU countries from January 2027.
Greece’s success in securing the exemption, which will allow those shipments to continue, marks the first time that the EU’s overall slate of economic sanctions against Russia has been weakened.
Athens’ approach essentially held hostage other measures, including a move to prevent Russia earning billions more from crude oil exports, full asset-freeze sanctions on 94 Russian financial institutions and a transaction ban on 33 banks.
Multiple EU diplomats involved in the negotiations said the tactic was “outrageous”. “I don’t want to hear anyone talk about ‘solidarity’ any more,” said one.
Greek officials have said that the LNG transport ban was agreed in error, would hurt Dynagas rather than the Russian economy, and benefit rival shipowners from China or other non-EU countries.
Proponents of the new method say that powerful and effective measures could be quickly approved by the Council of EU member states without the fanfare and public attention created by the ‘package’ approach. Any individual objections would not derail or delay other sanctions.
Some officials caution that the existing strategy nevertheless allowed capitals to see that multiple member states would face economic repercussions from sanctions decisions, which would help convince them that shouldering some of the pain was justified.
A spokesperson for the Commission declined to comment when asked about a change in sanctions strategy. “Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that after 21 packages of this scale since the start of the war, Russia is subject to a large number of sanctions that put it under significant pressure,” the spokesperson added.
