EU states agree six-month Russia sanctions

EU states’ ambassadors in Brussels on Friday (18 December) agreed to extend Russian economic sanctions for six months, following a hiccup with Italy.

EU capitals will ratify the decision by written procedure on Monday. The act will become legally binding the next day.

Diplomats agreed the point without discussion shortly after an EU summit, in which Italian PM Matteo Renzi i briefly mentioned the subject.

He “only mentioned it indirectly when talking about South & Nord Stream [gas pipelines] and Russia,” one EU source said. There was a “limited” discussion on sanctions, but “mostly” on the pipelines, a second source said.

Renzi, ten days ago, had caused consternation when he blocked ambassadors from taking the decision, saying he wants a summit-level debate.

A third EU source said he might have done it to create a buzz around his complaint on South Stream and Nord Stream II. The European Commission blocked South Stream, a Russia-Italy pipeline, on legal grounds. But Nord Stream II, a Russia-Germany pipeline, is moving ahead.

The EU economic sanctions were imposed in the wake of the MH17 air disaster in Ukraine last year. Separate EU measures, including visa bans on Russian officials and a business ban on Crimea, also remain in force.

The EU has tied the economic measures to Russia’s compliance with the Minsk ceasefire accord, which says “foreign” troops must leave Ukraine and Ukraine must get back control of its border.

The Russian leader, Vladimir Putin i, in a TV press conference on Thursday, came close to admitting, for the first time, that Russia conducts military campaigns in east Ukraine.

"We’ve never said there are no people there who deal with certain matters, including in the military area, but this does not mean that regular Russian troops are present there. Feel the difference," he said.

He earlier admitted to military operations in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula he annexed last year.