EU Extends Economic Regime with Russia Again

The European Council announced on the 29th that it would extend the economic sanctions against Russia for another six months to July 31 this year, on the grounds that the Russia-Ukraine conflict continued.

In a statement released on the same day, the European Council stated that these sanctions include restrictions on trade, finance, transportation, luxury goods, sea freight of crude oil, some banks, and media. In addition, the EU has also introduced some measures to restrict Russia's ability to evade sanctions.

The European Council stated that as long as the conflict continues, all sanctions imposed by the EU will be maintained and further measures may be taken if necessary.

The Russian diplomatic mission to the European Union previously issued a statement regarding EU sanctions, stating that the Russian economy has not "disintegrated" and that attempts to isolate Russia on international platforms such as the EU have failed, preventing Russia from achieving its goal of "strategic failure". The Russian side also criticized the sanctions as the EU's "illegal restrictions, political extortion, and neocolonialism outside its borders.".

Since Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union has significantly expanded the scope of sanctions against Russia, and has passed 12 rounds of sanctions against Russia so far. Russia has taken countermeasures against EU sanctions.