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Anti-Russian sanctions

EU summit’s decision on anti-Russian sanctions to affect Minsk accords - envoy

The Council of the European Union is yet to formalize the decision on the extension of the anti-Russian sanctions in July

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov Ruslan Shamukov/TASS

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov

© Ruslan Shamukov/TASS

BRUSSELS, June 30. /TASS/. The political decision made at the summit of the European Union (EU) on extending economic sanctions against Russia will have a negative impact on the implementation of the Minsk accords on settling the conflict in east Ukraine, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said on Saturday.

The Russian envoy made this statement while commenting on the results of the EU’s summit on June 28-29. The Council of the European Union is yet to formalize the decision on the extension of the anti-Russian sanctions in July.

"The summit’s decision on prohibitive measures was preceded ‘by an extremely short briefing by the European Council participants - Germany and France participating in the Normandy format for the settlement of the situation in Ukraine, with the conclusion that obviously it is untimely to lift the sanctions now due to the absence of progress in the implementation of the Minsk accords," the envoy said.

"Let me say it straight about what effect this will have from the viewpoint of the implementation of the Minsk accords - negative. There was no stimulus for Kiev to do anything and now both the participants of the Normandy format from the EU (Germany and France) and the entire European Union as a whole lack it," Chizhov said.

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