EU Summit prolongs anti-Russian economic sanctions for 6 mos

BRUSSELS, Jun 21 (PRIME) -- The E.U. Summit has made a political decision to prolong the economic sanctions against Russia as it saw no progress in Moscow’s implementation of the Minsk agreements, a representative of the E.U. Council told reporters late on Thursday.

“Sanctions against Russia have been prolonged for six months unanimously due to insufficient implementation of the Minsk agreements,” the representative said.

Currently, the sanctions are to expire on July 31. The E.U. Council will make a procedural decision and formalize the prolongation in one to two weeks.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the West deteriorated to their worse since the Cold War due to a military conflict in Ukraine. The West has introduced several sets of sanctions against some Russian individuals and companies, the energy and banking sectors since then. In response, Russia limited food imports from some countries, including the U.S., the E.U., Canada, Australia, and Norway.

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