Timeline of EU sanctions

The first set of EU sanctions (‘restrictive measures’) against Russia were adopted in March 2014, following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, and its support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. These signalled the start of a major review of EU policy towards Russia. Russia’s behaviour during the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war had previously been condemned in statements and resolutions, but did not trigger sanctions, despite Georgia’s request for smart sanctions. Initially, the 2014 EU sanctions against Russia included individual sanctions (asset freezes and visa bans), targeted at members of the Russian elite, Ukrainian separatists, and organisations associated with them, and diplomatic sanctions, entailing the formal suspension of EU-Russia summits and negotiations on the new EU-Russia cooperation agreement, as well as the suspension of Russia from the G8. Broader economic sanctions against Russia followed later, with the first restrictions on trade with Crimea, and sectoral sanctions concerning the arms trade, energy and financial cooperation with Russia. In addition to these Ukraine-related sanctions (classified as ‘geographical’ sanctions), the EU has adopted three global (‘thematic’) sanctions programmes since 2018: on chemical weapons (2018), cyber-attacks (2020) and human rights abuses (2020, partly modelled after the 2016 US Global Magnitsky Act. These impose visa bans, asset freezes and financial restrictions on individuals and entities from all over the world. Although global in scope, all three were inspired by Russian activities, and many of those on the lists are from Russia.