EU foreign ministers adopted new punitive measures to crack down on sanctions evasion and stop Russia from obtaining Western technology for making weapons.

A further 69 individuals and 47 entities linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have also been sanctioned with an asset freeze and in the case of persons, a travel ban to the European Union.

The new salvo of sanctions target Russia’s multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector for the first time.

These punitive measures ban ports such as Zeebrugge in Belgium from shipping Russian LNG to countries outside the EU after a nine month transition period.

Also targeted is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s so-called “shadow fleet” used to avoid sanctions including 27 specific vessels.