EU agrees to extend sanctions against Russia for 6 months
Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
The European Union on June 26 reached an agreement to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months, an undisclosed EU official told the Kyiv Independent.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed shortly afterwards that the agreement had been reached.
The EU renews its sectoral sanctions against Russia every six months in January and July. Sanctions encompass a broad array of economic areas, including restrictions on trade, finance, technology and dual-use goods, industry, transport, and luxury goods.
The agreement comes amid fears that Hungary, one of the bloc’s most Kremlin-friendly member states, would attempt to block the sanctions extension.
The European bloc first adopted sanctions related to Russian aggression on July 31, 2014, after Moscow occupied Crimea and invaded Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. The EU has significantly scaled up its sanctions measures in the wake of the full-scale invasion, adopting 17 major sanctions packages since February 2022.
The EU on June 10 unveiled its 18th package of sanctions against Russia, expanding current measures to include new restrictions on energy, banking, oil, and other sectors. The initial proposal included banning transactions involving the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines and reducing the oil price cap from $60 to $45 per barrel.
Soon after the package was announced, however, the EU reportedly postponed the effort to reduce the oil price cap.
The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk