The decision to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months was made in the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (Coreper), according to a source close to the EU leadership. The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (Coreper) has decided to extend
sanctions against Russia for another six months, a source close to the EU leadership said Friday.
"The decision was made at Coreper," the source told RIA Novosti. It is expected to be finalized Monday noon GMT. The source said the "rollover" is expected to be published in the
Official Journal of the European Union and take effect on Tuesday. European Council President Donald Tusk, who chaired the two-day meeting in Brussels, linked the extension to the Minsk ceasefire agreement on eastern Ukraine. Tusk claims Moscow is responsible for implementing its provisions.
Both the 28-member bloc and the United States imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russian banking, defense and energy sectors starting April 2014. The measures were imposed following the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014 and the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis. The source later clarified there were no plans to expand the list of EU sanctions, saying the extension is an automatic rollover.
Comment: The extension of sanctions were pushed through
without the parliamentary agreement of the countries within the EU. So much for the European Union embodying so-called democratic principles. If such a debate were allowed to occur, there would undoubtedly be much opposition as the sanctions have affected European countries just as they have Russia. The US presses forward in its attempt to keep Europe from joining with their more natural global partner in Russia, but it is an unsustainable and self-defeating policy that the EU is imposing on its people.
Comment: The extension of sanctions were pushed through without the parliamentary agreement of the countries within the EU. So much for the European Union embodying so-called democratic principles. If such a debate were allowed to occur, there would undoubtedly be much opposition as the sanctions have affected European countries just as they have Russia. The US presses forward in its attempt to keep Europe from joining with their more natural global partner in Russia, but it is an unsustainable and self-defeating policy that the EU is imposing on its people.