EU extends Russia sanctions over Crimea for a year

The measures, which were prolonged on June 19, include an EU-wide ban on imports from Crimea unless they have Ukrainian certificates, a prohibition of the purchase by European Union companies of property and companies on the Black Sea peninsula, and a ban on cruise ships flying the flag of an European Union member state or controlled by a member state to call at ports there.

The Council of the European Union on Monday extended "restrictive" measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russian Federation for an additional year, until June 23, 2018.

In a separate paragraph, the European Council's decision prohibits to export a number of goods and technologies to regional companies or for use in the region in the transport, telecommunications and energy sectors, as well as those related to the prospection, exploration and production of oil, gas and mineral resources. Technical assistance, brokering, construction or engineering services related to infrastructure in these sectors must not be provided either.

These sanctions were first imposed in March of 2014 and was repeatedly extended. Last time the restrictive measures were extended on June 17 of 2016.