Foreign
EU leaders on Friday once again agreed to prolong economic sanctions on Russia for its role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said following a video summit.
The sanctions were first adopted in July 2014 in the light of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support for pro-Moscow separatists in the country’s east.
The restrictive measures have since been extended every six months.
A formal decision to prolong them beyond their current July 31 expiry date is to be taken in the coming weeks.
The European Union has tied easing the sanctions to progress on the Minsk agreement, which calls for an unconditional ceasefire and for both sides to pull back heavy weapons from the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Ahead of Friday’s decision, Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, who are involved in peace efforts with Russia and Ukraine under the so-called Normandy forma briefed their EU counterparts on the state of play.
The EU sanctions target Russia’s financial, energy, and defence industries, impeding banks’ access to EU markets and limiting certain EU imports.
Separate measures are in place targeting trade with the annexed territories of Crimea and Sevastopol.
These were also extended this week, by a year.
NAN
– June 19, 2020 @ 15:29 GMT |
Tags: EU extends economic sanctions on Russia for role in eastern Ukraine
