EU member states formally extended economic sanctions against Russia on Monday by six months until January 31 next year, the European Council said. European leaders agreed to extend the sanctions at their summit on June 19, after discussing the state of the Minsk agreements aimed at settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“Given that full implementation has not yet been achieved, EU leaders took the political decision to roll over the economic sanctions against Russia,” the Council said in a statement.
Russia’s permanent envoy to the Contact Group for settlement in Donbass, Boris Gryzlov, said on Friday that Ukraine remains unwilling to find a comprehensive resolution to the conflict. “It seems that the main goal of Kiev during the talks is not comprehensive political settlement and not Donbass reintegration,” TASS quoted him as saying. “We are aware of this stance of the Ukrainian government – to maintain anti-Russian sanctions under any pretence.”
The Russian delegation “will continue to act as mediator to achieve a result stipulated by the Minsk agreements, calling on the OSCE to do the same,” Gryzlov said.