EU approves 11th sanctions package against Russia over Ukraine

European Union governments agreed on Wednesday on another package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, aimed mainly at stopping third countries and companies from circumventing the existing EU measures.

"Today, the EU Ambassadors agreed on the 11th package of sanctions against Russia. The package includes measures aimed at countering sanctions circumvention and individual listings," the Swedish presidency of the European Union said on Twitter.

The package forbids the transit via Russia of goods and technology which might be used by the Russian military or help its defence and security sector.

It also makes it possible to impose restrictions on the sale of sensitive dual-use goods and technology to countries that might sell it on to Russia and expands the list of restricted goods that could serve Russia's military and its defence sector.

The package extends the suspension of the broadcasting licences in the European Union of five Russian media outlets controlled by the Russian state.

To curb the practice of ships loading Russian crude oil or petroleum products at sea to avoid the EU ban on Russian crude and petroleum product imports, the package bans access to EU ports for ships which engage in ship-to-ship transfers if there is reasonable cause to suspect the cargo loaded was of Russian origin.

The package adds a further 71 persons and 33 entities to have assets kept in the EU frozen over their involvement, among other things, in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.