EU extends sanctions against Crimea for one year

The EU has renewed the sanctions against Crimea within the strategy approved in 2014, which does not recognize the peninsula’s reunification with Russia, the Council of the EU said in a statement published on Monday in Brussels.

The statement notes that the sanctions have been prolonged until June 23, 2022.

The EU introduced restrictions against Crimea and its residents in June 2014 in response to what Brussels calls "the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol". The sanctions ban European companies from maintaining business with Crimean enterprises, bar European air carriers from operating flights to and from Crimea and ships from visiting Crimean ports, impose a complete trade blockade on the peninsula, and prohibits EU countries from issuing visas to Crimea’s residents holding Russian passports.

The package of sanctions is extended every year without debate because the EU stated in 2014 that the restrictions would remain effective as long as Crimea was part of Russia.