EU NEIGHBOURS. The EU prolonged the economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 July 2020.
This decision follows an update by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the European Council on 12 December 2019 on the state of implementation of the Minsk agreements, to which the decision on maintaining sanctions is linked. Given that the Minsk agreements are not yet fully implemented, the European Council unanimously took the political decision to renew the economic sanctions against Russia.
The measures target the financial, energy and defence sectors and dual-use goods. They were originally introduced on 31 July 2014 for one year, in response to Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine. They were subsequently strengthened in September 2014.
