The European Union (EU) today formally extended for six months the heavy economic sanctions it has imposed on Russia for its alleged involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that erupted three and a half years ago.
The European Council "extended economic sanctions aimed at specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 July 2018", said in a statement regretting that the Minsk agreements, which were supposed to establish a ceasefire, "have not yet been fully implemented. application".
The sanctions, to which Moscow has responded by imposing an embargo on European agri-food products, hit Russian banks, defense companies and oil companies and bar Europeans from making financial investments in Russia.