EU extends Russia sanctions for six months over aggression in Ukraine

The EU has announced a decision to prolong for the next six months, until July 31, 2022, a package of sanctions earlier imposed on the Russian Federation for destabilizing Ukraine.

The relevant statement has been released by the European Council press service.

"The Council today decided to prolong the restrictive measures currently targeting specific economic sectors of the Russian Federation by six months, until 31 July 2022. The Council decision follows the latest assessment of the state of implementation of the Minsk agreements – initially foreseen to happen by 31 December 2015," the statement reads.

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It is recalled that the sanctions in question were initially introduced on July 31, 2014, in response to Russia's actions aimed at destabilizing Ukraine. The said restrictive measures limit access to EU primary and secondary capital markets for certain Russian banks and companies and prohibit forms of financial assistance and brokering towards Russian financial institutions.

EU sanctions also ban the direct or indirect import, export or transfer of all defense-related material and establish a ban for dual-use goods for military use or military-end users in Russia.

In addition, sanctions further curtail Russian access to certain sensitive technologies that can be used in the Russian energy sector, for instance, in oil production and exploration.

The EU earlier imposed a number of sanctions against Russia over its aggressive actions against Ukraine. These include the aforementioned economic sanctions against certain sectors of Russia's economy and sanctions for undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, which are in force until March 15, 2022, and get prolonged every six months, as well as restrictive measures for the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol. on the territory of the Crimean peninsula, which are applied on the Crimean peninsula and remain valid until June 23, 2022.