Putin Doesn’t Seem Worried As EU’s 19th Sanctions Package Would Hit Russian Banks, Oil

The United States, Europe and Ukraine are still pinning their hopes on witnessing a Russian economic “collapse” that theoretically will hasten a desperate Putin to the negotiating table, where he’ll make significant compromise.

That’s according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a Meet the Press interview Sunday. He said: “We are prepared to increase pressure on Russia, but we need our partners in Europe to follow.”

Urging Europe to act more aggressively, he said, “We are talking about what the two, the EU and the U.S., do together. But we need our European partners to follow us.”

At this moment the European Union is considering a new round of sanctions targeting several Russian banks and energy firms – which would mark its 19th package. The newest round would take aim at Russia’s payment and credit card networks, cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as impose additional restrictions on its oil trade. In total it would target about half a dozen Russian banks and energy companies.

The action is expected to be coordinated, after EU representatives meet this week in Washington with Trump admin officials. Have nearly twenty rounds of sanctions really put the squeeze and hurt on Russia, enough to impact Putin’s war aims? So far, the evidence has not been compelling.

With each new round of sanctions going back to 2022, it remains the same mantra from people like European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who previewed starting early last month, “We have adopted 18 packages so far, and we are advancing preparation for the 19th. This package will be forthcoming in early September.”

She reasoned, “We need to prepare the 19th package so that Russia sees that we are serious. We must continue to limit Russia’s potential.” The EU’s position is that the sanctions pressure will eventually “President Putin to the negotiation table.”

The state of the battlefield in eastern Ukraine strongly suggests that the Kremlin could care less if Europe and the US are ‘serious’ – as Russian forces have kept slowly advancing piecemeal, and even last month penetrated into the central oblast of Dnipropetrovsk. This also comes off Putin’s time in Beijing, which sent a message to the world doubling down on trade commitments in defiance of Washington, also involving India.

As far as another round of major sanctions, it’s looking like President Trump will probably pull the trigger, given events like Sunday’s record-breaking drone and missile attack on Kiev and across Ukraine will only ramp up the pressure on him to act, amid the urgings of hawks. He might be more interested in salvaging bilateral US-Russia ties, however. Certainly the Russians have had a favorable approach to this.

Germany’s Deutsche Welle reviews:

• Russia attacks with 805 drones and 13 missiles, most of which were intercepted, according to Ukraine’s Air Force
• Strikes hit residential areas in Kyiv, killing at least two people, and set fire to one of the main government buildings
• Ukraine’s president and prime minister continue to urge global allies to ramp up pressure on Russia by strengthening sanctions against country

That Soviet Union won the war against the nazis and that China also emerged as a victor is “something new” for Kaja Kallas. https://t.co/haklg9LP4C

— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) September 5, 2025

That attack marked the first time that high level ‘decision-making centers’ of the government were attacked, as the cabinet of ministers building was set a blaze, which is not far from Zelensky’s office.

There remains no forward movement on getting Putin and Zelensky into top level negotiations, as Trump has sought, and Zelensky even said he won’t go the the capital of “that terrorist” Putin. Such rhetoric will ensure that a meeting doesn’t happen, and Zelensky and Europe seem content with this – even as untold numbers continue dying by the day on the eastern battlefield.