The EU has agreed to extend sanctions against Russia for three years at once

The Permanent Representatives of the EU member states have decided to extend personal and corporate restrictions against citizens and companies from Russia and Belarus for three years. About this on September 21 The Czech TV channel CT24 reported, citing sources.

"The EU member states have agreed to extend the sanctions imposed on Russian and Belarusian citizens and companies, this time for three years, whereas previously the extension period was limited to six months. This decision was a compromise, under which two Russian billionaires, Mikhail Fridman and Alisher Usmanov, were also excluded from the sanctions list," the article says.

A compromise solution was worked out at a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU Countries (COREPER) after two weeks of discussions. An agreement was reached shortly before the official expiration of the current restrictions, which was scheduled for Tuesday, September 22. A special procedure will now be launched for the legal approval of this measure.

The reason for the lengthy disputes between the diplomats were the demands of Slovakia, supported by France, to exclude Usmanov from the blacklist, as well as the position of Luxembourg, which insisted on lifting sanctions against Friedman. Initially, the restrictions were planned to be completed on September 15, but the EU ambassadors were forced to agree on a technical extension of the restrictions for seven days in order to gain time for additional intergovernmental consultations and approval of the final list of persons.

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On the same day, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov declared the Russian economy immune to all Western sanctions. "Any "hellish sanctions" literally "bounce back" from the country's economic policy," he said. The Minister stressed that the Ministry of Finance had managed to make the draft budget fully balanced so that it would not have a negative impact on the economy and would not lead to a high cost of money.

On July 23, the Council of the European Union approved the 21st package of sanctions against Russia, including restrictions on 48 individuals, 170 organizations, as well as 94 Russian banks and large financial institutions. The Politico newspaper reported on August 31 that the EU plans to include about 1.6 thousand individuals and legal entities in a new package of sanctions against Russia. According to the newspaper, the new package of restrictive measures may become one of the largest since 2022.