European Union extends sanctions against Russia / Article

The European Union (EU) will extend economic sanctions against Russia for another six months in connection with the destabilization of the situation in Ukraine. EU leaders believe Russia has not done enough to ease tensions in the war-torn Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has already welcomed the EU’s decision.

EU foreign ministers on Monday supported extending sanctions against Russia until 31 January 2022.

The decision came after EU leaders at a summit in June concluded that Russia was not fully complying with the Minsk ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine.

At the time, EU leaders called on the Kremlin to take full responsibility for implementing the Minsk agreements, a key condition for the EU to change its position.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Jepara welcomed the extension of sanctions.

We welcome @EUCouncil decision to prolong sanctions targeting specific economic sectors of #Russia over destabilisation of #Ukraine until 31 January 2022. Decision was made in light of the fact that #MinskAgreements aren’t fully implemented by ????????➡️https://t.co/e2FIyk2vUA 1/2

— Emine Dzheppar (@EmineDzheppar) July 12, 2021

Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the Russian State Duma Leonid Sluckis extension of sanctions described it as a “mockery of common sense”.

“For the seventh year in a row, Brussels is trying to put pressure on Moscow and force us to change course through a policy of sanctions. But so far, the only thing Eurobureaucrats have managed to achieve is the degradation of relations and losses to the economies of the EU member states themselves, ”Sluckis believes.

He calls on the European Union to listen the main donors in France and Germany, as these countries have acknowledged the ineffectiveness of the current policy and called for the resumption of dialogue with Russia.

Sluckis claims that Brussels is continuing the pro-American course of sanctions in “autopilot mode”, which is most supported by those countries whose Russophobia is proportional to the amount of grants received from the EU budget.

Economic sanctions against Russia were imposed in July 2014 after Russia annexed the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed militants invaded eastern Ukraine.

Sanctions restrict access to EU capital markets for certain Russian banks and companies, ban exports and imports of arms, and restrict Russia’s access to sensitive technologies that can be used to extract oil and gas.

CONTEXT:

In the wake of Russian-backed militant aggression in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, the European Union (EU), the United States and other Western countries sanctions against Russia, imposing sanctions on many of Russia’s top officials, the people of the Kremlin’s immediate circle, and the financial, defense and energy sectors of the Russian economy. Sanctions prohibit some people from entering the EU, as well as freezing their assets if they are in the EU, restricting cooperation with certain companies, and other restrictions.

Western-Russian sanctions battles began after Russia in March 2014 after recognition referenduma annexed the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine, but in April pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine declared unrecognized people’s republicsto which Kiev responded with counter-terrorism operation, and the conflict is still going on.

Russia responded to Western sanctions by banning food imports from a number of Western countries.

Since then, both sides have repeatedly extended and expanded mutual sanctions.

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