The European Union’s decision to extend anti-Russian sanctions does not open up new prospects for normalizing relations between Moscow and Brussels, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Yes, the decision has been made to prolong the sanctions, there is nothing new here, we will really have to work under trying circumstances for some time," he said. According to Peskov, "of course, such decisions in no way open up new prospects for normalizing relations between Moscow and Brussels."
When asked how the proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron about top-level talks between the EU and Russia correlated with the decision to extend the sanctions once again, the Kremlin spokesman noted that "there are different points of view in the European Union regarding relations with Russia." "The initiative of Berlin and Paris to establish contacts was not backed by many EU member states," TASS cited him as saying.
The leaders of the 27 EU countries failed to reach an agreement on the Merkel-Macron proposal for a top-level meeting at the June 24-25 summit.
On Monday, the Council of the European Union issued a statement that the EU had extended economic sectoral sanctions against Russia by another six months. In 2014, Brussels imposed sanctions on Russia over the developments in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. The restrictive measures have been expanded and prolonged more than once. In response, Russia imposed a ban on food imports from the European Union.
