EU envoys agree to extend sanctions on Russia: Diplomats
Envoys of the European Union in Brussels have reportedly agreed to extend until the end of January 2017 the economic, financial and defense sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
Diplomatic sources said Tuesday that the envoys agreed on the extension despite calls for relief in the bans, which have also affected the EU states.
The six-month extension should gain the ministerial approval of the 28-member bloc before it can go into effect. Diplomats said there was no obstacle and that no doubt the roll-over would be approved. They said a meeting on June 24 could finalize the extension. The case can also be referred to a summit of EU leaders next week, or even later.
Some EU members have called on Brussels to revise the sanctions policy toward Russia as two years of bans imposed over the alleged role of Moscow in a conflict in eastern Ukraine have barely changed the situation on the ground. Those states say the sanctions have only affected their own economies as they have been deprived of broad trade with Russia.
Germany and Italy are among the main countries urging the change in the policy. Members of the French parliament also passed a resolution calling for lifting of the EU sanctions. Russia has also been slapped with a separate set of sanctions over reintegration of Crimea, a former Ukrainian peninsula which joined the Russian Federation after a referendum on March 16, 2014.
More than 9,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russia denies Western allegations that it has a role in the turmoil.
Russian officials have repeatedly slammed the EU sanctions over Ukraine and Crimea as pointless.
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