The European Union adopted fresh sanctions against Russian oil interests on Monday, targeting traders Murtaza Lakhani and Etibar Eyyub for helping Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions on crude exports that help to fund Russia's war in Ukraine.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on five businessmen linked to Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.

Russia’s Central Bank says it has filed a lawsuit against Belgian financial institution Euroclear. That's the Brussels-based clearing house that holds most of Moscow’s frozen assets in Europe.

Leaders of eight easternmost European Union nations are gathering in Helsinki on Tuesday to plot a roadmap for how to secure as much funding as possible for building up defenses against Russia.

Most people outside of banking won't have heard of Euroclear. It's a Brussels-based settlement provider that enables the transfer of ownership of securities between seller and buyer. The firm is the focal point of a major geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the European Union.

Imports dipped after the invasion, and Europe placed sanctions on a number of executives at Russian fertiliser companies. But it soon made clear that the companies themselves, and the commodities they sell,

BRUSSELS (AP) — Over the course of 2025, a new reality has sunk in for Europe. The United States, long its strongest ally, has chipped away at the European Union’s unity, economies, security and even its democracies, setting the backdrop for an EU summit this week at the end of an exceptionally trying year.

European Union nations that face Russia and its ally Belarus on NATO's eastern flank called for the EU to take a bigger role in enhancing the continent's defence and security, the leaders of eight countries said as they met in Helsinki on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he thinks the US would issue additional Russian sanctions and sell more military aid to Kyiv should Russia reject Washington’s carefully crafted deal to end the war.