The head of the European Council, Donald Tusk, says he is "more than certain" that the decision to extend sanctions against Russia will be taken in Brussels before mid-December, when the EU summit will be held
After a meeting EU leaders with President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday, November 24, Tusk said as quoted by DW that the EU is still of the opinion that sanctions against Moscow may be cancelled only upon full implementation of the Minsk agreement related to the settlement of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The EU has slapped three packages of sanctions on Russia. The first package envisaged sanctions against individual Russian and Ukrainian citizens whom Europe believed to be responsible for the infringement on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. These sanctions will be in force until March 15, 2017. Economic sectoral sanctions against Russia are in in force until January 31, 2017. The trade and investment sanctions against Crimea expire on June 23, 2017.
As reported on November 18, President Barack Obama and the leaders of five European states at a meeting in Berlin agreed on the need to extend sanctions against Russia in connection with the situation around Ukraine.