The European Union extended sanctions against Russia for six months.The sanctions will now extend until the end of July 2016.
The European Union extended sanctions against Russia for six months.The sanctions will now extend until the end of July 2016.
The Washington Post reports that the decision, given preliminary approval by E.U. leaders last week and due to go into effect on Tuesday, lengthens until next year a laundry list of economic measures against Russia. In tandem with U.S. sanctions, the effort has contributed to a painful economic slowdown in Russia that will continue next year.
But amid growing grumbling from some European countries about the sanctions, their future beyond this renewal remains unclear.
The sanctions were imposed after Russia and Crimean Peninsula reunification in March 2014.
«The sanctions were initially introduced for one year on July 31 last year in response to Russia’s actions in Eastern Ukraine and then prolonged by another six months because of Russia’s noncompliance with the terms of a cease-fire deal agreed in Minsk, Belarus», - The Wall Street Journal reminds.
The New York Times noticed: Italy and France could delay E.U.’s renewal of sanctions against Russia.
President François Hollande of France has said that Europe needed to ease its sanctions on Russia. After the terrorist attacks in Paris last month, he flew to Moscow to talk with President Vladimir V. Putin about fighting the Islamic State.
Russia is a significant economic partner for Italy. The Italian energy industry has close ties to Gazprom, the Russian state-run natural gas exporter, and important Italian industries like farming and fashion have lost business because of retaliatory measures imposed by Moscow.
But on December 22 decision is to prolong economic sanctions on Russia until mid-2016.
