The EU extends economic sanctions against Russia for six months over the war in Ukraine

The European Union This Monday extended for six more months, until July 31, 2024, the economic sanctions that it has approved against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.

The twenty-seven began to adopt restrictive measures against Moscow since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but intensified them after the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, and they affect broad sectors of the economy, such as the banking, industrial, military or transportation.

Thus, the EU has removed ten Russian banks from the international SWIFT system, making it difficult for them to obtain foreign currency and transfer assets abroad.

The main economic sanctions also include an agreement to set ceilings on the price of Russian diesel and other derivatives of the Petroleum sold from the bloc to third countries or the veto on imports of Russian diamonds to the EU, a measure that will be applied gradually and will be fully in force in September of this year.

The measures also include a ban on exporting dual-use goods to Russia, specifically those that Moscow has used on the battlefield.

Since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, the bloc has also banned the broadcast on EU from pro-Kremlin Russian media outlets such as RT and Sputnik.

“While the illegal actions of the Federation of Russia continue to violate the prohibition on the use of force, which constitutes a serious breach of the obligations derived from international law, it is appropriate to maintain in force all the measures imposed by the EU and take additional measures if necessary,” the EU Council said in a statement.

Since February 2022, the EU has approved 12 sanctions packages against Russia and is already preparing the thirteenth, focused above all on preventing Moscow from being able to evade the restrictive measures, according to community sources.