EU Extends Russia Sanctions
EU foreign ministers have approved the extension of economic sanctions on Russia over its involvement in Ukraine by six months until the end of January 2016.
The decision made at a meeting in Luxembourg comes after EU ambassadors on June 17 agreed to extend the sanctions hitting Russia's energy, financial, and military sector, and prolonged an investment ban on Crimea for another year.
The sanctions were imposed for one year in July 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March and its alleged support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
In March, EU heads of government decided that the duration of the restrictive measures against Russia would be linked to the complete implementation of the Minsk cease-fire agreement.