Minsk is almost invisible. EU Council extended anti-Russian sanctions

The EU Council has extended economic sanctions against Russia until July 31, 2018. This is stated in the report of the Council of the European Union, - Yevropeyska Pravda writes.

"On December 21, the EU Council extended economic sanctions against certain sectors of the Russian economy until July 31, 2018", - the report said.

This decision was made after French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel reported on the state of implementation of the Minsk Agreements at the EU summit and stated that they have not yet been implemented. Therefore, a political decision to extend the sanctions was made.

Today, the EU Council unanimously consolidated this decision by way of a written procedure in accordance with the rules for all such decisions.

As previously reported, the EU imposed economic sanctions against Russia on July 31, 2014 for one year in response to the actions of Russia, which destabilized the situation in Ukraine. The sanctions are directed to the financial, energy and defence sectors and the sphere of dual-use goods. On March 19, 2015, the duration of sanctions was related to the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements, which were to be implemented by December 31, 2015. Since this did not happen and given that the Minsk Agreements were still not fully implemented, the EU regularly extended the sanctions.