EU extends Russian sanctions for another year as Moscow retaliates

EU extends Russian sanctions: EU  yesterday confirmed that it was rolling over the sanctions  that it imposed over two years ago on the grounds that the  2015 Minsk peace deal aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict had “not [been] fully implemented.” EU ambassadors had agreed on the extension in principle on June 21.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko thanked the EU for its decision, saying its efforts to lobby the bloc had “borne fruit, despite the views of sceptics and pessimists….This must force Russia to implement the Minsk Agreements and end its occupation of Crimea,” while Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite warned that the sanctions would go on until the conflict was resolved. “What goes around, comes around. Sanctions continue until Minsk agreements are fully implemented,” she tweeted.
The confirmation of the ban came two days after Russia had pre-empted the decision by extended its own embargo on EU food imports. The Russian foreign ministry yesterday  said it viewed the move as “a continuation of the short-sighted policy of Brussels” and that it was “absurd” to link the sanctions to a failure to make progress on a peace deal to end fighting in eastern Ukraine. “In essence the European Union has….made EU-Russian relations hostage to the irresponsible games of the Ukrainian authorities,” it said in a statement.