The European Union decided to extend restrictive measures against Russia in response to its military aggression against Ukraine for a further six months, until January 31, 2024. That's according to a press release posted on the website of the European Council.
"The Council today decided to prolong by six months, until 31 January 2024, the restrictive measures targeting specific sectors of the economy of the Russian Federation. These sanctions, first introduced in 2014 in response to Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, were significantly expanded since February 2022, in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine," the statement reads.
The sanctions currently consist of a broad spectrum of sectoral measures, including restrictions on trade, finance, technology and dual-use goods, industry, transport and luxury goods. They also cover a ban on the import or transfer of seaborne crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia to the EU, a de-SWIFTing of several Russian banks, and the suspension of the broadcasting activities and licenses of several Kremlin-backed disinformation outlets. Additionally, specific measures were introduced to strengthen the ability of the EU to counter sanctions circumvention.
In addition to the economic sanctions on the Russian Federation, the EU has in place different types of measures in response to Russia's destabilizing actions against Ukraine. These include: restrictions on economic relations with the illegally annexed Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as well as the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions; individual restrictive measures (asset freezes and travel restrictions) on a broad range of individuals and entities, and diplomatic measures.
Since February 24, 2022, the EU has adopted 11 unprecedented and hard-hitting packages of sanctions in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
