The European Union is going to prolong restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia for another year.
"This decision is in no way connected with the Russian Foreign Ministry's decision to expand a blacklist of EU officials in retaliation for the EU's restrictive measures against Russians," a source in Brussels told Russian news agency TASS.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on June 18, 2018, the European Council extended the restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia until June 23, 2019.
The measures apply to EU persons and EU based companies. They are limited to the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol.
The sanctions include prohibitions on: imports of products originating in Crimea or Sevastopol into the EU; investment in Crimea or Sevastopol, meaning that no Europeans nor EU-based companies can buy real estate or entities in Crimea, finance Crimean companies or supply related services; tourism services in Crimea or Sevastopol, in particular, European cruise ships cannot call at ports in the Crimean peninsula, except in case of emergency; exports of certain goods and technologies to Crimean companies or for use in Crimea in the transport, telecommunications and energy sectors and related to the prospection, exploration and production of oil, gas and mineral resources. Technical assistance, brokering, construction or engineering services related to infrastructure in these sectors must not be provided either.
