EU court upholds sanctions on Russian energy companies, banks:
By RFE/RL
BRUSSELS --The European Union's General Court has upheld the bloc's sanctions regime against Russian bank and energy companies over Russia's involvement in the crisis in Ukraine.
"The General Court of the EU upholds restrictive measures adopted by the Council against a number of Russian banks and oil and gas companies in connection with the crisis in Ukraine," the court said in September 13 statement.
Energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, as well as the banks DenizBank, PSC Prominvestbank, Sberbank, and Vnesheconombank had sought to annul the sanctions imposed on them by the EU in 2014 as a response to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine, where the conflict has killed more than 10,300 people in the last four years.
The EU sanctions restrict the access of the Russian banks and gas companies to some financial transactions and certain sensitive goods and technologies, as well as to capital markets in the EU, and prohibit the provision of services required for certain oil transactions.
The court said that the "stated objective of the contested acts is to increase the costs of Russia's actions to undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence, and to promote a peaceful settlement of the crisis", and that "this objective is consistent with the objective of maintaining peace and international security." (w/Reuters)
EU prolongs Russia sanctions until March 2019:
By RFE/RL
BRUSSELS -- The European Union has extended by another six months visa bans and asset freeze against 155 Russian and Ukrainian individuals, as well as 44 companies, for undermining or threatening the independence of Ukraine.
"An assessment of the situation did not justify a change in the sanctions regime," The EU council said in a statement issued on September 13.
The list of sanctioned individuals includes the Donetsk separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko who was killed in an explosion in the eastern city on August 31.
It also includes a deceased member of the Russian Duma, Iosif Kobzon.
EU sources told RFE/RL that both were likely to be de-listed at a later stage but that the bloc wanted to ensure that their potential assets held in the EU aren't passed over to someone else when they are removed from the list.
The sanctions were first imposed in March 2014 over Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine and its seizure and illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula. They have been renewed every six months since then. They have been now extended until March 15.
Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine and its support for separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014, has heightened tensions with the West. (w/Reuters)