Sanctions — 2026-09-24

EU Plans Sanctions on 77 Candidates in Russian Parliamentary Elections Held in Occupied Ukraine

BLUFBrussels will likely approve sanctions against the 77 Duma candidates by October 12, deliberately scoping the list to preserve fragile consensus after the Usmanov and Fridman delisting fight.

The European External Action Service on September 23 presented a draft sanctions list to the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) naming 77 candidates who stood in Russia's 2026 State Duma elections in occupied Ukrainian territory, according to a European Pravda correspondent citing EU diplomatic sources 12. The list falls under the EU's sanctions regime targeting threats to Ukraine's territorial integrity, and technical preparation will follow the Coreper presentation 2. EU ambassadors are expected to revisit the list in early October, with approval anticipated at the October 12 Foreign Affairs Council meeting 13. The move follows the EU's September 22 decision to extend existing territorial-integrity sanctions for 36 months while dropping oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the list 12.

Analysis
Formal adoption of the sanctions list against the 77 Duma election candidates likely proceeds on schedule at the October 12 Foreign Affairs Council, given the completed Coreper presentation and the pattern set by the September 22 territorial-integrity renewal. Analytic confidence is low, reflecting single-source diplomatic reporting on internal EU sanctions deliberations with no independent confirmation of ambassador-level consensus ahead of the early-October review. The list's narrow focus on election candidates rather than broader economic targets signals Brussels is calibrating pressure to avoid reopening the unity fight that nearly derailed the Usmanov-Fridman delisting.

4 sources