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Ulviyya Poladova

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The European Union’s new sanctions package against Russia could become the bloc’s largest since 2022, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt.

Kallas stressed the need to increase pressure on Russia while acknowledging that the country had already paid a "high price." She noted that, if the 22nd sanctions package is adopted, the number of Russian individuals and entities subject to EU restrictions could increase by about one-third.

The EU’s latest, 21st sanctions package was approved on July 23. It included sanctions against 170 legal entities and 48 individuals. In late July, Bloomberg reported that the bloc was considering restrictions on more than 1,600 companies "linked to Russia."

Earlier in August, Kallas announced that the EU had imposed new sanctions on five Russian citizens whom Brussels accused of being involved in Russia’s military-industrial complex.

EU foreign policy chief also added that the U.S. Senate’s adoption of a sanctions bill targeting Russia, originally initiated by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, raised hopes for closer coordination between Europe and the United States.

Image: Dado Ruvic / Reuters