Denmark's role in pressuring Russia and its EU presidency goals

02.07.2025, 20:00 eurointegration.com.ua

Starting 1 July 2025, Denmark officially took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union. For the next six months, the country will coordinate the agenda and moderate key negotiations among the 27 EU member states.

Denmark declares its intention to push sanctions against Russia into a new phase.

The declared focus is to close off the channels that still allow Moscow to profit from oil, gas, and energy transport despite all embargoes.

Read more about what Denmark is already doing in this direction and plans to do at the helm of the EU Council in a column by communications specialist Maksym Hardus of Razom We Stand: Countering Russia’s shadow fleet and new bans: what to expect from Denmark’s EU presidency.

The author reminds us that over the past two years, Denmark has become one of the key Northern European countries systematically cutting off any channels through which Russia earns income from fossil fuels.

In particular, in 2022 Copenhagen completely stopped importing Russian coal, and in 2025 joined a group of ten countries officially calling on the EU to urgently impose a full ban on Russian LNG imports and to terminate existing contracts.

Moreover, Denmark was among the first to approve the initiative to include over 200 vessels of the Russian "shadow fleet" transporting oil bypassing the G7 price cap in the EU’s 18th sanctions package, and it invests about 600 million euros in a monitoring fleet.

At the EU Council level, Denmark, together with the Baltic states, is pushing for stricter controls on ship insurance.

Finally, Denmark is an active supporter of extending the current oil embargo and reviewing the price cap on Urals oil.

"Thanks to these steps, Denmark becomes one of the main moderators of the new wave of sanctions pressure, raising the issue not only of symbolic bans but of real control and monitoring of flows of oil, gas, and money," notes the Razom We Stand communications specialist.

According to him, the Danish presidency comes to Brussels with a clear public promise: to make sanctions not just a long list of bans, but a working tool that truly cuts off Russia’s financial lifeline.

Hardus adds that among specific tasks is the final approval and launch of insurance checks for all tankers passing through the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Denmark promotes this initiative together with the Baltic countries, the UK and Germany.

The logic is simple: a ship without transparent insurance and clear cargo information won’t be able to freely pass through critical straits.

"This will seriously hit the ‘shadow fleet’ that currently transports most of Russia’s oil," the columnist is confident.

He also mentions another key point – an agreement for full synchronization of energy sanctions with partners outside the EU, mainly coordination with the US and UK on insurance and port operation controls.

A separate focus is on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Denmark has already supported a call from ten countries to the European Commission urging a complete ban on Russian LNG imports.

Another priority, Hardus continues, is legally blocking Nord Stream.

And finally, the security component. Besides the over 600 million euros allocated for strengthening the maritime fleet and buying drones, Denmark together with NATO partners is launching joint patrols of straits and strategic ports.

A Razom We Stand representative notes this plan aims to minimise illegal "ship-to-ship" oil transfers – a scheme that became one of the most common ways to circumvent sanctions in 2023–2024.

Will Copenhagen succeed in implementing this plan? The key will be the readiness of other EU capitals to give up convenient exceptions.

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