EU officially extends sanctions against Russia

The European Union has officially extended economic sanctions against Russia, as stated in the EU Council statement.

"On 1 July 2016, the Council extended economic sanctions against certain sectors of the Russian economy until 31 January 2017".

The statement noted that the decision to extend the sanctions was taken unanimously "by written agreement procedure".

Previously, the extension of sanctions was agreed upon by the permanent representatives of the EU countries. At that time, three countries - France, the UK and Sweden - used the "parliamentary reserve" law, which includes coordination of positions with local parliaments. Later, it became known that at the last moment, Italy raised a demand to include in the resolution a clause on the possibility of reviewing the policy of relations with Moscow by the end of 2016.

According to Sputnik