BRUSSELS -- European Union agricultural ministers have prolonged the bloc's investment ban against Crimea for another year.
The ministers extended the restrictive measures, which were adopted in 2014 in response to Russia's illegal annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula, during a meeting in Luxembourg on June 18.
EU ambassadors had already approved the move earlier this month.
The measures, which have been extended on a yearly basis, include an EU-wide ban on imports from Crimea unless they have Ukrainian certificates, a ban on cruise ships flying the flag of an EU member state or controlled by a member state to call at ports at the Black Sea peninsula, and a prohibition of the purchase by EU companies of property and companies there.
Under the ban, goods and technology for the transport, telecommunications, and energy sectors also cannot be exported to Crimean companies or for use in Crimea.
The EU’s economic sanctions targeting Russia’s banking and energy sector are set to be debated by EU leaders when they meet in Brussels at the end of June.
According to EU diplomats who were not authorized to speak on the record, the sanctions are likely to be rolled-over for another six months.
