BRUSSELS: Top European Union diplomats have agreed to add Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich to the EU list of Russian billionaires sanctioned after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, two diplomatic sources said on Monday.
The informal greenlight to Abramovich’s listing came in a meeting on Sunday, one source said, and the EU envoys will reconvene at 1100 GMT on Monday to adopt the measure and a further set of economic sanctions against Russia.
Sanctions will be effective only after publication on the EU’s official journal, which usually happens within hours or the day following formal approval.
The West has sanctioned Russian billionaires, frozen state assets and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy in an attempt to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to change course on Ukraine.
In what would be the fourth package of EU sanctions against Russia since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the 27-nation bloc will ban the export of luxury goods to Russia, including expensive cars.
It will also prohibit the import of Russian steel and iron products, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
At Sunday’s meeting, diplomats asked the Commission, which drafted the economic sanctions, to explain some aspects of the new economic measures to make sure they cannot be successfully challenged in EU courts, according to two EU sources.
No concerns were raised about the new listings of oligarchs and businessmen, which are in a separate legal document drafted by the EU external action service, one diplomat said, noting that Abramovich’s listing “will go through.”
Further Russian oligarchs will be added to the EU list. Dozens have already been sanctioned.
The new sanctions will hit people active in the Russian steel industry and others who provide financial services, military products and technology to the Russian state, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday.
Abramovich is already being blacklisted by Britain.
He holds a Portuguese passport, which means that Portugal could in principle refrain from imposing on him the asset freeze and travel ban decided at EU level, a second EU official said.
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EU agrees to freeze Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s assets – diplomats
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EU agrees to freeze Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s assets – diplomats
- Sanctions will be effective only after publication on the EU’s official journal
- Roman Abramovich is already being blacklisted by Britain
India and Israel: trade, defense and diplomacy
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Israel on Wednesday aiming to deepen ties with a key trade and defense partner, while balancing his government’s broader diplomatic interests in the Middle East.
New Delhi has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel across the defense, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity sectors.
One of India’s largest conglomerates, Adani Group, operates the Mediterranean port of Haifa, while Israeli military drone technology played a pivotal role during India’s May 2025 clash with Pakistan.
At the same time, India maintains strong relations with Gulf nations and Tehran, including developing Iran’s Chabahar port — a trade gateway to Afghanistan, where New Delhi has built a relationship with Taliban authorities.
Here’s a closer look at India-Israel ties.
- Trade -
In September 2023, grand plans were unveiled in New Delhi for an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor — to link railways, ports, electricity, data networks and pipelines, including through Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Those plans were stalled by Hamas’s October 7 deadly attack on Israel, which responded with a devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
Trade remains central to the diplomatic relationship with Israel, providing access to products from its advanced tech sector, while India offers a vast consumer market.
Key sectors include agriculture technology, food security, water management, diamonds, dairy, fisheries, and manufacturing.
Bilateral trade reached $3.75 billion in 2024-25, according to Indian figures, though this is understood to exclude arms sales.
Thousands of Indians work in Israel, including those who came to replace the jobs of Palestinian construction workers barred from entering since the October 7 attack and outbreak of war in 2023.
- Defense -
Israel is one of India’s top arms suppliers, dating back to its military support during the 1962 war with China and subsequent conflicts with Pakistan in 1971 and 1999.
Between 2020-24, Israel provided 13 percent of India’s military hardware, making it New Delhi’s third-largest supplier after Russia and France, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
India and Israel have launched multi-billion-dollar joint ventures to produce drones, missile systems, radar, cybersecurity technology, naval vessels and firearms.
- Diplomacy -
Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Ties deepened after Hindu-nationalist leader Modi took office in 2014.
Modi visited Israel in 2017, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to India the following year.
Both right-wing leaders have called each other a “friend.”
US President Donald Trump invited India to become a member of the “Board of Peace” that he established after helping negotiate a ceasefire to halt two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
New Delhi sent a representative to the board’s inauguration this month, but said its attendance was only in an “observer” capacity.
India in January hosted foreign ministers from Arab League nations, which have heavily criticized the war in Gaza. Modi told them he offered “continued support for the people of Palestine” and “welcomed ongoing peace efforts.”
A free trade agreement with Oman last year reflects India’s push for broader Middle East market access.
- Ancient roots -
Jewish links to India span millennia with India’s Arabian Sea port of Kochi — a key post in the ancient Greco-Roman trade network — home to a Jewish community for centuries.
“Civilizational relations between the countries date back more than two millennia,” India’s foreign ministry says.
The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi, India’s oldest, was built in 1568 — though barely any Jews remain in the city today.
Many emigrated to Israel after 1948, and more than 100,000 Jews of Indian origin live in Israel today, according to New Delhi.
In India’s northeast Manipur state, thousands from the Bnei Menashe community claim descent from one of the “lost tribes” of Israel.
Some members of the community have moved to Israel and the Israeli government has said it is preparing to resettle thousands more in the next few years.
New Delhi has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel across the defense, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity sectors.
One of India’s largest conglomerates, Adani Group, operates the Mediterranean port of Haifa, while Israeli military drone technology played a pivotal role during India’s May 2025 clash with Pakistan.
At the same time, India maintains strong relations with Gulf nations and Tehran, including developing Iran’s Chabahar port — a trade gateway to Afghanistan, where New Delhi has built a relationship with Taliban authorities.
Here’s a closer look at India-Israel ties.
- Trade -
In September 2023, grand plans were unveiled in New Delhi for an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor — to link railways, ports, electricity, data networks and pipelines, including through Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Those plans were stalled by Hamas’s October 7 deadly attack on Israel, which responded with a devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
Trade remains central to the diplomatic relationship with Israel, providing access to products from its advanced tech sector, while India offers a vast consumer market.
Key sectors include agriculture technology, food security, water management, diamonds, dairy, fisheries, and manufacturing.
Bilateral trade reached $3.75 billion in 2024-25, according to Indian figures, though this is understood to exclude arms sales.
Thousands of Indians work in Israel, including those who came to replace the jobs of Palestinian construction workers barred from entering since the October 7 attack and outbreak of war in 2023.
- Defense -
Israel is one of India’s top arms suppliers, dating back to its military support during the 1962 war with China and subsequent conflicts with Pakistan in 1971 and 1999.
Between 2020-24, Israel provided 13 percent of India’s military hardware, making it New Delhi’s third-largest supplier after Russia and France, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
India and Israel have launched multi-billion-dollar joint ventures to produce drones, missile systems, radar, cybersecurity technology, naval vessels and firearms.
- Diplomacy -
Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Ties deepened after Hindu-nationalist leader Modi took office in 2014.
Modi visited Israel in 2017, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to India the following year.
Both right-wing leaders have called each other a “friend.”
US President Donald Trump invited India to become a member of the “Board of Peace” that he established after helping negotiate a ceasefire to halt two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
New Delhi sent a representative to the board’s inauguration this month, but said its attendance was only in an “observer” capacity.
India in January hosted foreign ministers from Arab League nations, which have heavily criticized the war in Gaza. Modi told them he offered “continued support for the people of Palestine” and “welcomed ongoing peace efforts.”
A free trade agreement with Oman last year reflects India’s push for broader Middle East market access.
- Ancient roots -
Jewish links to India span millennia with India’s Arabian Sea port of Kochi — a key post in the ancient Greco-Roman trade network — home to a Jewish community for centuries.
“Civilizational relations between the countries date back more than two millennia,” India’s foreign ministry says.
The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi, India’s oldest, was built in 1568 — though barely any Jews remain in the city today.
Many emigrated to Israel after 1948, and more than 100,000 Jews of Indian origin live in Israel today, according to New Delhi.
In India’s northeast Manipur state, thousands from the Bnei Menashe community claim descent from one of the “lost tribes” of Israel.
Some members of the community have moved to Israel and the Israeli government has said it is preparing to resettle thousands more in the next few years.
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