The European Union announced on Tuesday the extension of its sanctions against Russia for another six months in order to extend it until the end of January 2023.
The resolution, which was approved by EU energy ministers, includes several sanctions that were first imposed on Russia in 2014 and were greatly expanded after the Ukraine crisis in February this year.
The announcement of the extension of the sanctions coincides with the agreement of the European countries on Tuesday on emergency measures to reduce their gas consumption in the winter, in a situation where Europe is facing uncertainty in the field of gas supply from Russia in the winter.
And energy ministers in the European Union discussed a draft law aimed at cutting demand for natural gas by 15 percent in the August-March period.
This may require voluntary measures to reduce gas consumption, thereby reducing its reserves in the Union, which is an incentive to apply further mandatory steps across the 27-nation bloc.
Russian energy giant Gazprom on Monday announced a reduction in supplies to the European Union through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to the level of 20% of its capacity due to the implementation of some maintenance work, which was reinforced. There are fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use gas as a tool against the European Union.
Source: Lebanon Debate
