The ‘hard middle ground’: Denmark’s positioning regarding the EU sanctions against Russia

Sanctions were key in the EU response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the sanctions negotiations among EU Member States, Denmark emerged as a mediating advocate for strict measures, situating itself between the assertive hardliners and the sanctions sceptics. This article investigates two cases demonstrating how this apparently convenient position also proved a ‘hard middle ground’. First, it limited Denmark’s options for shaping EU sanctions according to its specific national interests. While more prudent EU countries fought to exempt key areas of national interest, such as energy sources, from import restrictions, Denmark – the EU’s largest importer of woody biomass – did not. Second, it bolstered Copenhagen’s political commitment to advancing adherence to the Western sanctions policy across the Danish Kingdom – including in the self-governing, non-EU member the Faroe Islands. Unlike during the EU Russia sanctions of 2014, the Danish Government publicly stressed its expectation that the Faroese Government would comply with the EU sanctions.