BRUSSELS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The European Council announced on Thursday that it had imposed restrictive measures on an additional 41 Russian vessels allegedly linked to the country's so-called "shadow fleet," aiming to cut off their financial support for Russia.

The decision, announced at a European Union (EU) summit in Brussels, seeks to prevent the shadow fleet from bypassing the oil price cap mechanism, supporting Russia's energy and military sectors, and transporting looted Ukrainian goods.

According to a Council statement, the newly listed vessels are part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers, bringing the total number of sanctioned vessels to nearly 600. The ships are banned from accessing relevant ports and from receiving a broad range of maritime transport services.

The statement said the EU and its member states are "making full use of the international law of the sea framework" to address threats posed by the shadow fleet and to protect critical undersea infrastructure.

"The EU remains ready to step up pressure on Russia and its shadow fleet value chain, including by adopting further sanctions," it added.

Earlier this week, the EU approved sanctions against individuals and entities it accuses of supporting Russia's so-called shadow fleet, as well as separate sanctions targeting those related to alleged Russian hybrid operations.

Another important issue on the agenda of the Thursday EU summit was to decide whether to use tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to underwrite a loan to support Ukraine. The Kremlin has said that any attempts to confiscate Russian assets would violate international law.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned last week that Russia would take swift retaliatory measures against the EU's illegal freezing of Russian assets. ■