The European Union announced today, Thursday, the extension of its sanctions imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine for another six months until January 31, 2024. The European Council stated that "these sanctions, which were first implemented in 2014 in response to Russia's actions that destabilized the situation in Ukraine, have significantly expanded since February 2022 in response to Russia's unjustified military aggression against Ukraine."
Additionally, the EU stated that it has imposed sanctions on 18 individuals and five entities for human rights violations in Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Ukraine, and Russia. The bloc noted that the ministers of education and justice in the Taliban government and the acting head of the Supreme Court in Afghanistan are among six individuals sanctioned for sexual violence and gender-based violence.
The European Union has also imposed restrictive measures against 12 other individuals and five entities responsible for serious human rights violations in Russia, referring to those who abused facial recognition technology to carry out "arbitrary arrests" and issue politically motivated sentences against Kremlin critics, such as Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza.
