MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. The decision to again extend the EU’s sanctions against Russia made under the pressure from its anti-Russian wing actually serves as an excuse for Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, Russia’s Federation Council (upper house) International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev said on Friday.

The leaders of the EU member-countries have made a political decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia by six months, a source in the Council of the EU earlier told TASS on the sidelines of the EU summit. The political decision made at the EU summit is expected to be followed by a formal procedure to extend the restrictive measures, the diplomat noted.

"This EU decision is, alas, about Ukraine rather than Russia. It is de facto allowed to continue to sabotage the implementation of the Minsk agreements for the sake of the geopolitical ambitions of the European Union’s anti-Russian part," Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page.

According to the Russian senator, the part of the European Union’s sanctions package concerning compliance with the Minsk accords could be removed very quickly, but that would yield no dividends to Russia’s opponents. "There would be at least some progress in their implementation. Once again, an excuse is required, which is clearly understood by Russia’s opponents within the EU (for one, Poland), who are doing the best they can to ensure there is no reason, in other words, to make sure that Ukraine this process depends entirely on has no real incentives to comply with the Minsk agreements," the politician stressed.

He noted that there is a divergence of opinion on the issue - from "adamant Poland to increasingly hesitant Italy." "On the one hand, the futility of sanctions is obvious, on the other businesses are actively exerting pressure on politicians, and the damage to the European Union itself is no less substantial," the senator wrote.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that, if the proponents of removing sanctions had at least some arguments and some reason to reconsider the policy of sanctions, while saving one’s face, the decision would have been different," he added.

Crimea sanctions

Kosachev stressed that the part of the sanctions package concerning Crimea has no grounds and will later "either become immanent or will be removed after the formal recognition of Crimea’s Russian status." "How that can be done by the EU without losing its face is Brussel’s headache. However, it will have to find a way out, because its stance to ignore the will of the peninsula’s people strongly contradicts the notorious European values," he pointed out.