Brussels, 01/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - The economic sanctions imposed by the European Union on the Russian Federation have been extended until the end of January 2017 by a unanimous decision of the EU member states, in accordance with a written procedure of the Council of the EU that was completed on Friday 1 July.
Introduced at the end of July 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea, these sanctions - which are mainly aimed at the finance, energy and defence sectors - have since been strengthened (see EUROPE 11133). As well as imposing an embargo on the export and import of weapons, the sanctions affect five Russian state-controlled financial institutions, three big energy companies and three companies in the defence sector.
The length of the sanctions is linked to the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, which are aimed at restoring peace in Ukraine. The extension of the economic sanctions, which was the subject of a political agreement at the end of June (see EUROPE 11577), was decided upon following the EU's observation that these Minsk agreements have not been fully implemented.
Elsewhere, 146 people and 37 entities are subject to individual restrictive measures until 15 September 2016. Other restrictive measures limited to the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol are in place until 23 June 2017.
Slovakia wants a debate. “It's not credible to extend the sanctions every six months without discussion”, Slovakia's foreign minister, Miroslav Lacjak, said on Thursday at the launch of the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU (see other article). In Lacjak's view, the member states should avoid the “ideological” position they try to have on this issue. Furthermore, he described some countries from Western Europe as “hypocritical” and other countries from Eastern and Central Europe as “unrealistic”. Lacjak would like Russia to be recognised as a “strategic reality” and wants to put this issue on the agenda of the European foreign ministers' informal meeting (the Gymnich) on Friday 2 September.
A Polish diplomat recently said that the member states that are reluctant about extending these sanctions have managed to convince the others that it was necessary to launch an “in-depth reflection” on the “strict automatism” that exists between the EU sanctions and implementation of the Minsk agreements. This reflection should focus on the risk that the Minsk agreements may never fully enter into force on the ground. The initial results of this reflection should be visible at the approach of the December European Council. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Jan Kordys)