BRUSSELS, January 29. /TASS/. The European Council has against extended EU sanctions against Russia for six months, the Council said in its statement.

"The Council today renewed for a further 6 months its restrictive measures in view of the Russian Federation's continuing actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, until July 31, 2024," the EU Council said.

The European Union started introducing economic sanctions against Russia on July 31, 2014. They are renewed automatically every six months since then. In total, the EU introduced twelve packages of economic sanctions against Russian, making this regime of trade and economic restrictions the toughest in its history.