The sanctions will remain in force until the end of January 2018.
Sanctions were imposed in July 2014 in reaction to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and fighting in eastern Ukraine.
In 2015 the European Council decided that sanctions could only be lifted once ceasefire deals, known as the Minsk agreements, were fully respected.
The sanctions affect Russia’s financial, energy and security markets, limit Russian state banks and oil companies access to foreign capital and enforces an embargo on weapons.(vb)
Source: PAP