BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2020) The European Council on Thursday officially enacted a decision to extend for another six months the economic sanctions that were imposed against Russia in 2014 over so-called destabilizing actions against Ukraine.
The decision was made on December 10 during a meeting of EU leaders focused on assessing the state of the implementation of the Minsk agreements, as the bloc concluded that the agreements were not fully implemented by Moscow. The sanctions were extended previously in June until January 31, 2021.
"The Council today decided to prolong the restrictive measures currently targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 July 2021. These sanctions were imposed in 2014 in response to Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine," the council said in a press release.
The sanctions, in particular, limit certain Russian banks' and companies' access to EU Primary and secondary capital markets, as well as prohibit financial assistance and brokering toward Russian financial institutions.
"The measures also prohibit the direct or indirect import, export or transfer of all defence-related materiel and establish a ban for dual-use goods for military use or military-end users in Russia. The sanctions further curtail Russian access to certain sensitive technologies that can be used in the Russian energy sector, for instance in oil production and exploration," the press release added.
The relations between Moscow and Brussels have been strained since 2014 over the Ukrainian crisis and the reunification of Crimea with Russia. The European Union, together with the United States, introduced sanctions against Russia, to which Moscow responded with counter-sanctions.
