The European Union’s 21st sanctions package against Russia remained unapproved late Wednesday after ambassadors failed to reach the required unanimity, with a final attempt scheduled for Thursday morning. The immediate obstacle is Greece’s objection to a clause that would prohibit EU-flagged vessels from carrying Russian liquefied natural gas to buyers outside the bloc. To prevent an automatic rise in the oil price cap that would ease pressure on Moscow, member states agreed on a temporary rollover of the cap at $44.1 per barrel until 23 July, buying time for a broader deal.

According to diplomats in Brussels, Athens is demanding a derogation or transition period for Dynagas, a shipping company controlled by the octogenarian magnate George Prokopiou. Its fleet of Arc7 ice-class tankers was purpose-built to serve the Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic, and the Greek government argues the vessels have no alternative commercial use. A forced sale to non-Western buyers, it contends, would simply transfer the business to Asian competitors. The European Commission maintains that the ban was already agreed as part of the 19th sanctions package and is due to enter force in January 2027. The Greek veto has triggered a cascade of reservations from other capitals: France and Italy sought to soften visa restrictions on Russian military personnel, Germany and Portugal pushed back against a proposed ban on Alaska pollock imports, Austria demanded the release of €2 billion in frozen Russian assets, and Bulgaria blocked the inclusion of Patriarch Kirill on an asset-freeze list. Diplomats warn that the proliferation of national carve-out demands risks hollowing out the sanctions regime.

The deadlock marks the first major test of EU sanctions unity since the electoral defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had long been the bloc’s most frequent veto-wielder. Viewed from Moscow, the Kremlin has seized on the disarray. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared that any further sanctions would cause “direct and extensive” damage to European economies and that Russia considers all EU restrictive measures illegal under international law. Meanwhile, a compromise proposal reported by the Financial Times would allow European shipping companies to continue transporting Russian LNG to third countries for an additional 12 months, with volumes capped at 2025 levels and a possible extension.

Coreper is to reconvene on Thursday morning. If no agreement is reached, the temporary oil price cap extension will lapse, allowing the cap to rise in line with global benchmarks and weakening a key instrument designed to limit the Kremlin’s energy revenues. The broader package, which also includes a more permanent freezing of the price cap, faces an uncertain fate as the EU confronts the limits of economic coercion that increasingly chafes against member-state commercial interests.