EU agrees to extend sanctions on Russia by 6 months
The EU will be extending the individual sanctions on Russian physical entities and organizations by six months.
“Today EU ambassadors approved the decision to extend the restrictive measures for actions that have threatened the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine by 6 months, until March 15, 2020,” the press service stated. The Council of Europe added that the extension will be implemented over the next few days.
“An analysis of the situation has shown that an adjustment of the sanction regime would be unjustified under the current circumstances,” the Council of Europe remarked.
The EU’s Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) recently approved the document to extend the sanctions, the RIA Novosti and TASS news agencies reported, citing their own sources. According to RIA Novosti, the document was approved without discussion. The agency’s source said that during the session, the committee had chosen to use the written procedure to approve the document.
The individual sanctions include the freezing of assets and a ban on entering the EU. At present, such restrictions have been applied to 170 physical and 44 legal entities from Russia.
On June 27, the Council of Europe officially extended the economic sanctions on Russia until January 31, 2020. The restrictions affect Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors. Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the extension of the sanctions “unconstructive games”. Russia also remains under sanctions that were implemented following its annexation of Crimea. These sanctions have been extended until June 23, 2020.