Junker: sanctions against Russia will be extended

The sanctions of the European Union against Russia will be extended. This was announced in an interview with Euronews by the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junker. “At the moment, it is clear that in June we will extend the sanctions,” he said.

At the same time, Junker noted a direct connection between the abolition of sanctions and the implementation of the points of the Minsk Protocol. “There is a direct relationship between the Minsk agreements, their implementation and sanctions,” said the head of the European Commission.

“I was in St. Petersburg last week, took part in the Economic Forum, and also met with President Putin. Both in my speech and at a meeting with the Russian leader, I very clearly expressed the idea that the Minsk agreements should be implemented. Simply, the more implemented points of the Minsk protocol, the less sanctions,” the junker said.

He added that the European Commission will monitor the situation. “Over the next six months, we will continue monitoring to understand if there is sufficient progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements in order to remove part of the sanctions,” he added.

The sectoral sanctions of the European Union, adopted due to aggression of Russia in Ukraine, came into force on August 1, 2014 . They were introduced for a period of 1 year. Restrictive measures affected the banking and oil sector, the defense and industrial complex, dual-use products and technology. In particular, a ban on the supply of equipment for the oil industry, on technological cooperation with Russia in the development of Arctic shelf and shale deposits was introduced. The EU also introduced the embargo for weapons with Russia and the export of dual -purpose technologies.

The validity of the sanctions has been extended several times. On June 10, it became known that the European Union intends to extend their action for another six months. The decision can be made over the next two weeks.