The European Union's tense relationship with Russia has culminated in the period of the Ukrainian crisis. After decades long history of strategic partnership, the situation has developed into continuous rounds of sanctions and complete detachment from common cooperation. This thesis aims to analyze the European Union's sanctions towards Russia during the Ukrainian crisis through normative power and observe how this theory is reflected in the sanctions. Timeline of the analysis is focusing on the years 2014-2022. Normative Power Europe as a theory is often associated to the European Union, as it aims to explain the European Union's identity through internal attributes such as the normative core principles, and external action of attempting to influence other actors by setting the standard of what is acceptable. Concept of normative principles and Self/Other dichotomy are utilized in the analysis, to support the research question. By applying discourse analysis on the European Union's statements and conclusions related to the sanctions, the thesis uncovers that the normative power theory is manifested in various ways in the EU's discourse towards Russia and is developing harsher over time. The analysis finds that the European Union is justifying the sanctions through perceived breaches to its core normative principles and several indications of antagonistic portrayal of Russia as Other is found in the material. However, the study of the empirical material produces a question, whether the vast amount of normative messaging can produce any wanted change in the Other.