{"id":459805,"date":"2026-07-13T18:17:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/07\/13\/lue-condanna-la-riammissione-della-russia-alle-olimpiadi-ma-non-approva-il-21esimo-pacchetto-di-sanzioni\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T18:36:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:36:06","slug":"the-eu-condemns-russias-readmission-to-the-olympics-but-does-not-approve-the-21st-sanctions-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/07\/13\/the-eu-condemns-russias-readmission-to-the-olympics-but-does-not-approve-the-21st-sanctions-package\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU condemns Russia\u2019s readmission to the Olympics, but does not approve the 21st sanctions package"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The EU is not having it: Russia\u2019s readmission to the Olympics is a misguided decision that comes at an even more inopportune moment. So says the EU\u2019s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas<\/strong>, and she is not alone: \u201cAll ministers have condemned the reinstatement decreed by the International Olympic Committee<\/strong>,\u201d Kallas stated at the end of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. With the IOC\u2019s decision to lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee<\/b><\/a>, even if only temporarily, \u201cit seems as though they wish to reward the ongoing killing of civilians.\u201d <\/p>\n

All 27 foreign ministers of the EU Member States are convinced, Kallas insists, that the decision is highly questionable. The European Union\u2019s line is to continue putting as much pressure as possible on Moscow. On the European side, however, this pressure is not being exerted: the Foreign Affairs Council has failed to approve the 21st package<\/strong> of sanctions against Russia announced in early June<\/a>. The Member States are at loggerheads over sanctions on the fishing sector, on which part of the EU has significant dependencies. There is strong demand for Russian cod, whiting, and seafood, affecting Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and France. Furthermore, the package lacks agreement amongst the 27 Member States on a visa ban for former Russian combatants. <\/p>\n

The 21st package has therefore not been approved. What appears to be underway, in fact, is its very dismantling, highlighting the limitations of an EU that can no longer hide behind the vetoes and whims of the former Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n. The EU is trying to save face by nevertheless approving  new sanctions, alternative <\/a>to the expected ones, for human rights violations, and new restrictive measures in response to cyber-attacks <\/b><\/a>launched by Russia against EU Member States. \u201cRussian cyber-attacks are increasing in scale and severity. For the first time, the EU and the UK have simultaneously sanctioned the entire ecosystem that enables these attacks, including criminals, hackers, and companies operating on Moscow\u2019s largest IT system. This is the most comprehensive package of cyber sanctions ever adopted by the EU,\u201d the High Representative emphasised, adding that Brussels \u201cwill also summon the Russian representative to the European Union regarding Moscow\u2019s cyber campaign.\u201d Finally, \u201cfor the ninth consecutive time, we are approving sanctions against Russia<\/strong>,\u201d states Kallas, thereby seeking to demonstrate that the EU is not sitting idly by. She nevertheless tries to make the best of a bad situation: \u201cI regret that there is no agreement on the 21st package, but we are close.\u201d Yet we remain far from the initial objectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kallas: \u201cAll ministers are opposed to the IOC\u2019s decision; it seems like a reward for the civilian victims. I regret that there is no agreement on anti-Putin measures.\u201d Sanctions have been imposed in response to cyberattacks against the EU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":459787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[25954,33830,32999,25804,25803,33394],"class_list":["post-459805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-foreign-affairs-council-en","tag-kaja-kallas","tag-olimpiadi","tag-sanctionsin","tag-russia-in-2","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459806,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459805\/revisions\/459806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}