Patriarch Kirill and Lukoil founder excluded from draft 21st EU's Russia sanctions package – sources
Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill and Lukoil founder Vagit Alekperov have been removed from the draft 21st EU package of sanctions against Russia.
Source: European Pravda, citing diplomatic sources
Details: Patriarch Kirill and Lukoil founder Alekperov were excluded from the draft 21st EU package of sanctions against Russia at Bulgaria's request, diplomats from several EU states told European Pravda.
It also became known that the most problematic issues in the sanctions package have already been resolved – in many respects, in the direction of softening them.
The ban on EU entry for Russian combatants will be significantly narrowed in scope; the proposed ban on EU imports of cod, pollock and certain other types of fish will be removed from the package entirely; and plans for strict restrictions on liquefied gas of Russian origin and related tankers will also not be implemented.
A positive development is the member states' agreement in principle on the need to temporarily freeze the price cap on Russian oil at US$44.10 per barrel.
Among unresolved issues: following the previous Coreper meeting on 10 July, it became known that Austria has renewed its demand for the lifting of sanctions restrictions and the unfreezing of assets of the Russian investment company Rasperia, linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, which has billion-dollar legal claims against a subsidiary of Austrian bank Raiffeisen.
Background:
- As European Pravda reported, EU ambassadors have still been unable to agree on the content of the new 21st EU package of sanctions against Russia.
- European Pravda previously reported, citing its own sources, that the 21st EU's Russia sanctions package may be approved on 13 July during the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, but in a "lighter" form – without Patriarch Kirill's name on the sanctions list.
- Bulgaria demanded the removal of Patriarch Kirill from the 21st EU Russia sanctions package, with Italy subsequently joining this demand.
- The question of lifting sanctions on assets linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska was last raised publicly in October 2025, during discussions on the 19th EU package of sanctions against Russia.
- Raiffeisen has maintained the largest Western bank presence in Russia following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, despite attempts to sell its Russian subsidiary.
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