The European Union’s 21st sanctions package against Russia has been stripped of its most stringent measures after sustained objections from several member states, according to diplomatic sources in Brussels. A proposed automatic visa ban on all Russian military personnel has been narrowed to short-stay visas only for those directly involved in combat operations, following resistance from France, Italy and Greece, whose tourism sectors rely on Russian visitors. A planned prohibition on the resale of Russian liquefied natural gas to third countries is also set to be dropped, effectively allowing EU-based tankers to continue re-exporting the fuel. The package, which EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss on 13 July, will now include a three-month freeze of the oil price cap at $44 per barrel—rather than the originally proposed six months—and will exempt imports of haddock, pollock and cod sought by Germany, Poland and Portugal respectively. Bulgaria has blocked the inclusion of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on the sanctions list.

Viewed from Paris and Rome, the retreat reflects a calculation that earlier drafts risked disproportionate economic blowback without altering Moscow’s posture. The internal friction over Russia coincides with a separate EU push to deepen security cooperation with Latin America. The European Commission has issued a call for projects worth €16.55 million aimed at dismantling criminal networks responsible for drug trafficking and human smuggling. The initiative, open until 3 September, targets the leadership of organised crime groups and seeks to improve cross-border intelligence. Officials in Brussels point to a sharp rise in cocaine flows into European ports—often routed directly from Latin America or via West Africa—and note that non-EU nationals, many from the region, now account for 64 per cent of trafficking victims identified in the bloc.

Simultaneously, the Commission has presented a classified options paper to member states outlining possible trade restrictions on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The document, to be debated by foreign ministers on Monday, includes a licensing system for imports and faces practical hurdles in customs enforcement. While Spain, Ireland and Belgium have pushed for robust measures, Germany has until recently opposed such steps, and any decision classified as a foreign-policy sanction would require unanimity. The parallel dossiers illustrate the breadth of the EU’s sanctions diplomacy and the persistent difficulty of forging consensus among 27 capitals.

Against this backdrop, law-enforcement operations on both sides of the Atlantic underscore the scale of the illicit economies the EU seeks to disrupt. Brazilian federal police arrested six people in Bahia and Santa Catarina in connection with a maritime cocaine-trafficking ring that used sailing vessels and contaminated containers to reach Europe. In Mexico, authorities secured the pre-trial detention of four men after seizing over 2.5 tonnes of cocaine and nearly 1,000 litres of gasoline at sea, while a Canadian court set a 2027 trial date for a man accused of transporting 40 kilograms of cocaine and 10,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills. Separately, the Israeli Knesset gave preliminary approval to a bill that would freeze additional Palestinian tax revenues, a move Palestinian officials described as “organised financial piracy”. The EU’s own sanctions machinery remains in motion: the Russia package is expected to be finalised by foreign ministers in mid-July, though further amendments remain possible, and the Latin America call for proposals will close in early September.