The European Union says it has prolonged economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy though July 31, 2017.
EU extends Russia sanctions:
By Rikard Jozwiak
BRUSSELS -- The European Union has extended sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine for another six months.
The European Council formally approved the extension on December 19 after EU leaders agreed to the move at a summit last week.
"The council prolonged the economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until July 31, 2017," the council said in a statement.
The sanctions target the financial, energy, and defense sectors and material that can be used for both industrial and military means.
Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande voiced support for prolonging the sanctions.
They faulted Moscow for failing to do its part in implementing the Minsk accords -- a February 2015 agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where more than 9,750 people have died since April 2014 in fighting between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces.
NATO Chief Says Alliance, Moscow Still At Odds Over Ukraine
By RFE/RL
BRUSSELS -- NATO and Russia still "have profound disagreements on the crisis" in Ukraine, the head of the Western military alliance says.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made the comments after the NATO-Russia Council, their main forum for dialogue, held more than three hours of talks in Brussels on December 19.
It was only the third such meeting of the council in 2016.
NATO has suspended all practical cooperation with Russia after Moscow's seizure and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in March 2014.
Stoltenberg said NATO allies "reiterated their strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," and insisted that they would never "recognize Russia's illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea."
The meeting also looked at ways to avoid incidents and accidents between Russian and NATO forces.
Russia has annoyed NATO with snap military exercises or by buzzing the alliance's ships and aircraft with fighter jets, as well as what NATO sees as aggressive use of propaganda.
Douglas Lute, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told ABC News on December 18 that "I don't believe that anyone in Russia today intends to attack NATO."
But Lute added, "I worry about attempts by Russia...to influence political campaigns, flooding allied capitals, the news media with misinformation or disinformation and all these with an attempt to fragment internally our societies, perhaps distort our political processes, and to sow discontent and a lack of cohesion across the allies." (w/ Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels, AP, and Reuters)
Ukraine's eastern region of Luhansk has been shaken by a separatist conflict -- and so has the local economy. The town of Hirske, located in government-controlled territory, depends on a coal mine for most of its jobs, but major investments are needed for the operation to continue. With clashes continuing just a few kilometers away, the mine and locals' livelihoods hang in the balance. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
