The European Union officially extended for six months the economic sanctions against Russia, which expires on January 31, 2019. This was reported on Friday by the press service of the EU Council.
“On December 21, 2018, the Council extended economic sanctions against specific sectors of the Russian economy until July 31, 2019,” the Council said in a statement.
The document notes that this decision is due to the fact that “there is no progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements”.
The political decision to extend the restrictive measures was taken by the heads of state and government of the European Union at the summit on December 13. It was based on a brief report by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on “progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. The specificity of these reports is that the only responsible for the implementation of the Minsk agreements is considered only Russia, however, the EU countries completely ignore the sabotage by Kiev of its obligations under these agreements, and no responsibility for this is considered by the EU countries.
The economic sanctions against Russia were put into effect on July 31, 2014 after the death of Malaysian Boeing flying MH 17 over Donbass. Since it have been renewed every six months unchanged. In March 2015, the EU summit decided that sanctions could be lifted only after the implementation of the Minsk agreements
