This work deals with the relations between the European Union and Russia before and during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with reference to the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union. The European Union as an international integration is considered the most important and significant integration on the European continent since the middle of the 20th century. The forerunner of today's modern European Union is the European Coal and Steel Community which came into being after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1951. With the entry into force of the Treaties of Rome from 1957, two new European integration constructs were created, the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). The today’s European Union was founded on February 7th, 1992, with the singing of the Maastricht Treaty. The territorial expansion of the European Union is based on seven enlargement processes, the last of which refers to the accession of the Republic of Croatia on July 1st, 2013. Russia, as the largest country in the world, is rightly considered as one of the three superpowers today and thereby as being potentially threatening. Russia exerts its power by occupying the territorial area of Ukraine and carrying out continuous attacks from February 2022 until today. The Russian government has faced harsh criticism and condemnation from around the world for its invasion of the Ukrainian territory. The European Union also condemned Russian aggression in the strongest terms, providing absolute support to Ukraine. As an attempt to weaken the Russian economy, the European Union introduced certain sanctions against Russia. In a two-and-a-half-year period, the European Union gradually introduced fourteen packages of sanctions against Russia, the last of which was presented on June 24th, 2024. The sanctions against Russia can divided into three groups: sanctions against individuals and business entities, economic sanctions, and sanctions against media companies. Experience has shown that the sanctions regime is not sufficiently efficient: Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine. It will be rather difficult to normalise the relations between the European Union and Russia, which were partially partners before, and return to the previous cooperation.