The sanctions were extended until September 15
As it was expected, the EU extended the effect of anti-Russian sanctions until mid-September 2015, at the same time continuing to insist that Brussels doesn't lose the hope for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, luring Moscow with various easing of sanctions "at some point" (e.g., in the summer).
The EU authorities published the decision of extending the EU sanctions against the citizens of Russia and Ukraine until September 15.
This is written in the announcement published in the official journal of the EU.
The former vice-speaker of the State Duma Lyudmila Shevtsova was excluded from the list. She died due to a disease during the night of October 29, 2014.
Earlier the European Council announced the extension of personal sanctions against 150 people and 37 organizations. The official announcement of the Council stated that its decision implies the enactment of the political decision of the EU Council on Foreign Affairs, which was passed at the end of January 2015.
The EU and the USA started to enact personal sanctions against Russia after the reunification of Crimea with Russia. On the 17th of March, 2014 the EU passed sanctions against 21 Russian and Crimean politicians. After this the list was extended several times. The personal sanctions imply the freezing of assets of people and organizations and a ban on entry into the EU.
The decision of extending the sanctions against Russia will be considered in June 2015 on the EU summit. The question of the extension will be discussed during the meeting of EU leaders on March 19-20, 2015. However, according to various Reuters sources among the European diplomats, the EU leaders are unlikely to pass a decision of strengthening the sanctions against Russia. The main debate will unfold around the question of whether the EU should show its resolve in extending the sanctions against Russia, which were passed in July of 2014, or if it should wait and see how the Minsk agreements are implemented.
http://top.rbc.ru/politics/14/03/2015/5503f59b9a79475497ed4daa (in Russian) - link
However, the Kremlin doesn't give in. Instead, it started large-scale war games with the tasks like "actions of tank units under urban conditions," which unsettled NATO. Under the conditions where the junta consciously undermines the Minsk agreements (big surprise!), Russia flexes its muscle and leaves it up to the West to decide the scenario - either everything goes to war, or Europe pressures the junta to at least make the truce stick. In response to the RF exercises in Europe they already announced that NATO is not going to fight in the Ukraine directly (which was already clear - Ukraine is not a member of NATO and is not going to become one in the foreseeable future). Therefore, Kiev cannot expect formal direct military support. In principle, there is nothing surprising here: a military conflict between NATO and the RF will culminate in a nuclear war, and nobody needs that. So - just like before - the role of NATO, or rather some countries in NATO, will be to provide hybrid support for the junta (which includes military support) with the official position of "we are not there". In this respect Russia and certain NATO countries behave equivalently. But at this stage the question is no longer about supporting the hybrid war, but rather about extending its scope. The recently published analysis-prognosis of "Stratfor" on the one side appears like strategic intellectualism and wishful thinking, but if the war escalates, then one way or another some of the operational plans of actions in the Ukraine will be enacted (such a plan won't necessarily correspond to the way the Americans see the military development of this conflict). In Europe some are wary of this, because such a configuration of the conflict will strip Europe of the ability to support its own scenarios in the Ukrainian question, which would make Europe fully dependent on the American line. So, while the EU continues to bother Russia, mostly diplomatically and economically, it tries to avoid the purely military solution in every possible way. Naturally, Russia will survive these sanctions, so the Kremlin is now more concerned with the questions of possible military scenarios in the Ukraine, which are pushed through by the USA. The flexing of muscles under the conditions of the current international tensions is not so much a signal for the EU, but rather a signal for the USA that Russia is also prepared for these types of future scenarios.
http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2089946.html (in Russian)
NEW! See the Yandex translation of the comments posted to the original Russian blog entry:
https://translate.yandex.com/translate?url=http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2089946.html%23comments&lang=ru-en