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It said the sanctions are in response to “actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.” The EU first imposed the sanctions after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and supported pro-Russia separatists fighting Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s east. That fighting has left over 10,000 people dead.
The bloc has repeatedly extended the sanctions as the conflict continues. A 2015 peace deal helped reduce the scale of fighting, but violence continues.