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EU to extend economic sanctions against Russia on July 5 — source

The decision to extend sanctions will be made on Thursday

© Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

BRUSSELS, July 4. /TASS/. The decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia for six months will be taken on July 5 and will become effective next Monday, a European diplomatic source told reporters on the eve of the EU summit.

"The decision to extend sanctions will be made on Thursday. It will be published in the Official Journal of the EU on Monday, July 9, and will be effective since then," the source said.

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Diplomat regrets EU move to extend sanctions against Russia

The political decision to extend sanctions was made at the EU summit on June 28-29 in Brussels. It was noted that extension of sanctions was related to lack of progress in Minsk Agreements.

The European Union imposed several sanctions packages against Moscow: economic sanctions, individual restrictions and Crimea-related sanctions.

Sectoral sanctions were initially levied on July 31, 2014, and covered financial, energy and defense sectors, as well as dual-use goods. Economic sanctions include restricted access to EU’s primary and secondary capital markets for five Russian financial institutions and their subsidiaries founded outside the European Union, in which the state holds a majority stake, as well as for three biggest Russian energy companies and three defense firms.

They also include embargoed weapons trade and ban on exports of dual-use goods for military purposes to Russia, as well as restricted access to certain strategic technologies and services that may be used for oil exploration and production, for Russia.

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