EU renews sanctions against Russia over Crimea’s illegal annexation

BRUSSELS

EU foreign ministers decided on Monday to renew sanctions against Russia over the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol.

The decision extends the restrictive measures targeting financial investments and tourism and blocks the import of goods from Crimea and Sevastopol until June 23, 2023.

The bloc also maintains the ban on European telecommunications, transport, and energy companies to export goods and services to local firms.

“The EU does not recognize and continues to condemn the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula as a serious violation of international law,” the Council of the European Union said in a statement announcing the extension of sanctions.

The current measures are part of the bloc’s different sanction regimes that have been imposed in 2014 in response to Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The EU has also slapped six sets of sanctions against Russia since the beginning of its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The packages target, among others, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a ban on oil and coal imports, the export of luxury goods, and exclude Russian and Belarusian banks from using the international banking system SWIFT.