Renewed Sanctions

From the BBC:

"EU extends Russia sanctions over Ukraine"

EU leaders have agreed to extend economic sanctions against Russia for six more months. Earlier, France and Germany complained that the Minsk peace deal for Ukraine was still not being fulfilled. Russia's military interventions, first in Ukraine, then in Syria, were high on the EU summit agenda in Brussels. But Italy and Slovakia want sanctions, that have cost EU exporters billions of euros, eased. The summit focused on the crises in Europe's neighbourhood. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 triggered the first round of sanctions. They have been ratcheted up, targeting Russian arms exporters, banks and individuals - many of them close to President Vladimir Putin - blamed for the pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine. But this summit will also be remembered for its new language on ties with Ukraine - setting limits to EU support.  The far-reaching EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was stalled in April when Dutch voters rejected it in a referendum.   So the leaders addressed Dutch anxieties with a new, legally binding EU text. "The Agreement does not confer on Ukraine the status of a candidate country for accession to the Union, nor does it constitute a commitment to confer such status to Ukraine in the future," it said. The EU will not offer Ukrainians the right to reside and work in the EU, nor offer EU military assistance. Any such help is a matter for individual governments.

^ The Crimea is still annexed and there is still fighting in the Donbass so the sanctions should continue (of course a lot more should be done, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.) ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38328273