Ukraine joins EU sanctions against Russia
According to the message published on European Council’s website, Montenegro, Albania, Norway and Ukraine joined the Council’s December decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia.
“The European Council adopted decision 2018/2078 on December 21, 2018 (Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: “On restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine”). The Council decision prolongs the restrictive measures for a further six months, until July 31, 2019. The Candidate Countries Montenegro and Albania, the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine align themselves with this declaration.” the document reads.
Economic sanctions include restricted access to the main and secondary capital markets of the EU and a ban on weapons imports and exports and the export of dual-use goods for military use or for military end-users in Russia, thereby limiting Russia's access to technologies that could be used in oil production and refining.
In addition to these economic sanctions, some EU measures will also be applied in response to the situation in Ukraine.
The sanctions were extended due to the failure of the Minsk Agreement of 2015. Since the agreements were never implemented, the sanctions remain in force.