EU renews sanctions on Russia in bid to push for peace deal with Ukraine
BRUSSELS – The European Union renewed its wide-ranging sanctions on Russia on Monday for another six months after U.S. President Donald Trump said he is ready to increase economic pressure on Russia to strike a peace deal with Ukraine.
“Europe delivers: EU Foreign Ministers just agreed to extend again the sanctions on Russia,” Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, posted on social media.
Officials from other EU countries had warned that a failure to roll over the sanctions before a Jan. 31 deadline would have major consequences, such as the unfreezing of Russian assets in Europe used to support Kyiv.
The sanctions up for renewal include all sector-based bans on trade as well as the measures that immobilised Russia’s central bank assets. Legally, EU countries must unanimously vote to renew these restrictions every six months.
Profits from the frozen assets are being used to finance a $50 billion loan to Ukraine backed by the G7.
At the meeting of EU ambassadors on Monday morning, the Commission presented a statement declaring it was “ready to continue discussions with Ukraine on the supply to Europe through the gas pipeline system in Ukraine”.
At the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Bloomberg he was willing to sign a contract to move Azeri gas through Ukraine to the EU. Baku tried to broker an agreement last year to continue Russian flows to the EU or swap in Azeri gas, but these failed. Azerbaijan has limited spare gas production.
“The Commission will approach Ukraine to request assurances regarding the maintenance of oil pipeline transfers to the EU,” the statement also said.
