EU extends prohibition on investments in Crimea by one year

The EU Council announced on June 18 that it decided to
extend for a year its prohibition on EU investments in Crimean peninsula, which
is illegally occupied by the Russian government. The prohibition applies to
investments, tourism services, EU imports from Crimea, and certain EU exports
to Crimea, including the transport, energy and telecommunications sectors.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin welcomed the sanctions but called for
extending them to those violating human rights in Crimea and constructing the
Crimean bridge. “We need to shift from a policy of ‘non-recognition’ to
deoccupation,” Klimkin tweeted.

Zenon Zawada: We expect
no threat to European unity on sanctions against Russia for the next three
years. Problems could arise in 2021, when the next parliamentary elections are
held in Germany. However, the West is more concerned about the occupation in
Donbas rather than Crimea, a deliberate tactic by Russian President Putin that
has worked to his advantage.