Diplomats of the EU member states have agreed to prolong individual sanctions against Russian citizens and Russian-backed terrorist leaders in Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine – Crimea and Donbas.
"EU diplomats have today decided to prolong visa bans and asset freezes by another six months for politicians from Russia and separatists in Crimea and Donbas. Zakharchenko will obviously be removed, so [there will be] 154 people and 44 [legal] entities," Brussels reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Rikard Jozwiak wrote on Twitter on September 3.
The decision is to be confirmed by the EU ambassadors on September 5, he added.
Read alsoEU elaborating tougher sanctions against Russia over Crimea bridge – Klimkin
The EU's individual sanctions were first introduced on March 17, 2014, after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. They were repeatedly extended. The current sanctions are in effect until September 15, 2018. The sanctions were recently updated on July 31, when six companies involved in the illegal construction of the Crimean bridge between the annexed peninsula and Russia were added onto the legal entities list.
