The EU Council's decision published on Thursday in the Official Journal of the European Union says that the decision to extend the economic sectoral sanctions of the European Union (EU) against Russia for six months - until January 31, 2018 - came into force.

The statement said: "This decision was followed by the report of the president [of France Emmanuel] Macron and the chancellor [FRG Angela] Merkel at the EU summit on June 22-23 on the implementation of the Minsk agreements. This opened the way to extending the sanctions for six months. The Council (EU) unanimously adopted a formal decision on this by a written procedure ".

This step is of a purely technical nature: a political decision to extend sanctions was taken on June 22 at the EU summit. Recall that the package of anti-Russian economic measures was last extended in January this year until July 31.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov earlier told reporters that the anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union are not able to achieve Brussels' goals in relations with Moscow, and the decision to extend them is regrettable. Meshkov said: "It has long been clear to everyone that sanctions are counterproductive, that they are not able to solve any task that, in terms of relations with Russia, the European Union. More than once independent experts in the EU countries with figures in their hands showed that the economy of the EU countries is suffering primarily from sanctions and our countermeasures ".