EU prolongs sanctions against Russia by six months
EU member states have agreed to extend sanctions against Russia for six months. High representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas announced the extension on Monday.
The EU has adopted 15 packages of economic and financial sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Each time, the sanctions have to be extended by a unanimous decision of the member states. The next deadline was 31 January.
At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, Foreign ministers from the EU's 27 member states unanimously agreed to extend those sanctions by six months, until 31 July. "This will continue to deprive Moscow of revenues to finance its war. Russia needs to pay for the damage they are causing," Kallas said on social media.
The extension was particularly important for Belgium. The sanctions block Russian central bank assets in the EU, which are mainly held at Euroclear in Brussels. The EU uses the proceeds of these assets to lend money to Ukraine, and without the extension of the sanctions, there would no longer be a legal basis for holding the assets in Belgium.
Orban backs down
Some feared that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban would undermine the sanctions. He had indicated that he would follow Donald Trump's stance on Russia by saying he would not make a decision on the extension before the US president was sworn in.
But at the start of his four-year term, Trump threatened sanctions and increased tariffs against Russia if it did not reach an immediate agreement with Ukraine. On Monday, Kallas praised Trump's pressure on Moscow.
After Russian gas supplies were cut off on 1 January, Orban also wanted guarantees for energy supplies to Central and Eastern Europe. Kallas assured Orban on Monday that the European Commission would continue its efforts to secure oil and gas supplies via Ukraine.
High representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas © PHOTO NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
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