EU Sanctions Major Russian Shipyards, Including Submarine Builders

On Monday, October 12, the European Union adopted a new sanctions package targeting some of Russia's most important shipyards, including submarine builders, military ship repair facilities, and shipyards dedicated to commercial vessel construction. The measure is part of a broader expansion of restrictions on Russia's military-industrial complex and was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, entering into force that same day.

Among the designated companies are Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg, Sevmash in Severodvinsk, Amur Shipbuilding Plant in Russia's Far East, and Severnaya Verf, another St. Petersburg shipyard. Also included were the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center, which handles submarine maintenance, and the Dalzavod Ship Repair Center in Vladivostok, which supports Russia's Pacific Fleet, along with Vyborg Shipyard, Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard, Nevsky Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant, Vympel Shipbuilding Plant, and repair yards numbers 13, 33, and 82. The list also includes Almaz Shipbuilding Company of St. Petersburg, a builder of icebreakers, amphibious vessels, and assault hovercraft for the Russian Navy, as well as the submarine design bureaus Rubin, Malakhit, and Lazurit, all of which belong to United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the state-owned conglomerate that accounts for roughly 80% of Russia's newbuild shipbuilding tonnage.

According to gCaptain, the new sanctions add 826 Russian companies and 743 executives to the EU list, making it the largest expansion of sanctions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Maritime Executive and Financial Ports, by contrast, describe the document as a 930-page listing covering nearly 1,600 companies and individuals across Russia's entire defense industrial base, with around 50 executives individually sanctioned and two dozen service and supply chain companies, as well as manufacturers of components such as valves, heat exchangers, desalination units, and navigation and communications equipment.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described the package as the strongest adopted so far and argued that pressure on Russia must be maintained rather than eased, noting that the country is killing more civilians than ever and that now is the time to hold firm rather than make concessions. According to gCaptain, more than half of the nearly 1,600 newly listed entities are linked to the ballistic missile production chain, and the sanctions impose asset freezes and prohibit EU persons and companies from making funds available to the designated entities, without themselves constituting an outright ban on vessels built in Russia or being confused with earlier sanctions targeting the shadow fleet.