How the EU is increasing pressure on Putin and why Hungary gave in

The key outcome of yesterday’s meetings of the EU Foreign Affairs and Defence Councils was the adoption of the new, 17th package of sanctions against Russia.

All member states supported the package, including Hungary, which has traditionally posed challenges to the adoption of new sanctions against the Russian Federation.

EU leaders are now making confident statements: sanctions pressure on the Kremlin will soon intensify again, with a powerful 18th sanctions package expected. However, EU officials are deliberately vague about when this next package will be approved.

Read more about the EU’s new sanctions against Russia, why Hungary backed them, and what additional "painful restrictions" are being discussed in Brussels in the article by Tetiana Vysotska and Sergiy Sydorenko of European Pravda: Powerful, painful and Medvedchuk-related: how the EU aims to force Putin into concessions through sanctions.

First and foremost, the 17th sanctions package is the largest so far in terms of efforts to tackle the "shadow fleet" – ships Russia uses to bypass trade restrictions.

The updated list of sanctioned vessels now includes 342 ships linked to Russia’s shadow fleet. However, estimates suggest the total number of such vessels ranges from 700 to 800, meaning most are still not under sanctions.

This package also added 75 individuals and entities to the EU's sanctions list, bringing the total to more than 2,400 sanctioned names. Notably, new entries include individuals and companies involved in looting cultural heritage in Crimea (including the Chersonesos Taurica museum) and the appropriation of Ukrainian agricultural products.

A third, important, previously undisclosed, element of the 17th package is the inclusion of Surgutneftegaz, one of Russia’s largest oil producers. The US and the UK had already sanctioned this company back in January 2025, so the EU is now catching up.

In addition to the 17th package, the EU Council also approved three focused sanctions measures: sanctions related to hybrid warfare (targeting Russian propaganda and disinformation), sanctions for human rights violations, and sanctions related to chemical weapons and their use in Ukraine.

This is where Viktor Medvedchuk pops up.

The infamous Putin ally, along with two associates (former "112 Ukraine" channel producer Artem Marchevskyi and ex-MP from the pro-Russian OPZZh party Oleh Voloshyn (also tied to that channel) is included in the individual sanctions list under the hybrid warfare measures.

This decision is notable: Medvedchuk is now sanctioned by the EU under two separate regimes.

EU officials explained to European Pravda that these are "two distinct sanctions regimes" that will operate in parallel and carry the same consequences for Medvedchuk.

So how did the EU break the resistance of the Hungarian Prime Minister?

One explanation is that the EU ultimately made certain concessions. In the final days before the sanctions decision, a subsidiary of Lukoil was removed from the draft list (experts sometimes describe the Lukoil group as one of the sponsors of Viktor Orbán’s regime). However, this change came only in the last few days.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s principal agreement to adopt the 17th sanctions package became public as early as the beginning of May. Reportedly, the United States played a key role in securing this shift.

But will Hungary agree to the next round of sanctions?

Work on the new package is already underway.

It is already known that the 18th sanctions package may include lowering the price cap on Russian crude oil, extending sanctions against Russia’s shadow fleet, imposing sanctions on Russian financial institutions that support the military and defense sector – potentially including banks in third countries, and targeting companies operating the Nord Stream projects.