The European Union is imposing a conditional transaction ban on Georgia’s Kulevi oil refinery to take effect in six months unless reassessed as part of its 21st Russia sanctions package that was adopted on July 23 and also includes sanctions on crypto-related service platforms based, among others, in Georgia. “The package creates the possibility to prohibit transactions with listed refineries in Russia and in third countries which process or refine Russian crude oil and petroleum products. In that framework, the EU is imposing a transaction ban – entering into force in six months – on a Georgian refinery trading and processing Russian oil in Kulevi,” the Council of the EU said in its press release. Transaction Ban on Crypto PlatformsAccording to the Council’s press release, the bloc “is also extending its transaction ban to 14 crypto-related service platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus.” The inclusion of Georgia-based entities in the EU’s Russia sanctions package also follows the change of government in Hungary after Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, a close ally of Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party, lost the election in April.