We agree to extend economic sanctions against Russia: EU leaders

Brussels, June 29: European Union leaders agreed at a summit in Brussels today to extend economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine for a further six months.

 

The sanctions target whole sectors of the Russian economy including its oil businesses. The leaders made the decision after a very short discussion on Ukraine, Russia and the Minsk peace process.

In a summit statement, the EU leaders also reiterated their full support for a UN resolution on MH17 and called on Russia to accept its responsibility and fully cooperate with all efforts to establish the truth, justice, and accountability.

Both French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the leaders to agree to roll over the sanctions after giving an update on the state of implementation of the Minsk peace accords.

The EU first imposed the sanctions after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014 killing 298 people, an attack blamed by the EU on pro-Russian rebels.

The sanctions, which mainly hit Russia's banking and energy sectors, were first imposed in the summer of 2014 after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's the Crimean Peninsula and began fueling the conflict in eastern Ukraine by backing separatists fighting government forces there.

 

More than 10,300 people have been killed in the conflict, and EU leaders have said the sanctions won't be lifted unless Russia and other parties to the conflict make progress toward carrying out the Minsk deal.