The Council of the European Union on Friday extended by six months, until July 31, 2023, economic sanctions initially imposed on Russia over Crimea in 2014 and expanded further in response to the country's special military operation in Ukraine in 2022
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2023) The Council of the European Union on Friday extended by six months, until July 31, 2023, economic sanctions initially imposed on Russia over Crimea in 2014 and expanded further in response to the country's special military operation in Ukraine in 2022.
Permanent representatives of the EU member states agreed on a scheduled extension of the measures at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
"The Council today decided to prolong by six months, until 31 July 2023, the restrictive measures targeting specific sectors of the economy of the Russian Federation," a statement by the Council read.
The economic sanctions target Russia's economic, energy and defense sectors and include restrictions on trade, finance, technology and dual-use goods, as well as industry, transport and luxury goods. The measures also cover a ban on supplies of Russian seaborne crude oil and certain petroleum products, a de-SWIFTing of a number of Russian banks, and the suspension of the broadcasting activities and licenses of Russia's several news outlets, the statement added.
The EU initially introduced sanctions against Russia on July 31, 2014 for a period of one year due to the accession of Crimea to the country. In March 2015, the duration of the sanctions was linked to "full implementation of the Minsk agreements." Since then, the restrictions have been extended every six months. Moscow has reactively taken a number of retaliatory measures.
After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the EU member states significantly expanded the list of sanctions. To date, the bloc has already adopted nine sanctions packages. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the policy of containing and weakening Moscow is part of West's long-term strategy, while sanctions have instead hit the entire global economy and worsened lives of millions of people.
