EU extends economic sanctions against Russia for another six months

REUTERS

Leaders of European Union member states have decided to extend the economic sanctions against Russia in the banking, financial and energy sectors for another six months.

This was announced by Spokesman for the President of the European Council Barend Leyts on Twitter.

Read alsoUkraine may demand that SWIFT be switched off for Russia – chief negotiator on Donbas

"At #EUCO [European Council] agreement on conclusions EU-US relations and the roll over of the sanctions against Russia," he tweeted on December 10.

EU sanctions against Russia

• On July 31, 2014, the European Union imposed economic sanctions against Russia aimed at specific sectors of the economy.
• In March 2015, EU leaders decided to link these sanctions to the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements on Donbas. Since then, the EU has repeatedly extended these sanctions for the next six months. The latest time the sanctions were extended in June 2020 until January 31, 2021. The restrictive measures concern the financial, energy and defense sectors of the Russian Federation, as well as dual-use goods.
• They are also designed to restrict access to the EU's primary and secondary capital markets for five leading Russian financial institutions with a majority share of state ownership in their charter capital and their subsidiaries created outside the EU with a controlling stake. In addition, the sanctions were applied to three leading Russian energy and three defense companies.
• An export and import ban is applicable to arms trade, a ban is imposed on exports of dual-use goods for military use or for end consumers of military goods in Russia. Russia also has limited access to certain sensitive technologies and services that can be used for the development and prospecting of crude oil fields.