EU Said to Extend Russia Sanctions as Ukraine Peace Elusive

European Union governments struck a preliminary accord to extend sanctions against Russia by six months to the end of January, to keep up the pressure on the Kremlin to bring peace to eastern Ukraine.

Representatives of the 28 governments agreed on Wednesday in Brussels to prolong the trade and investment curbs, two EU officials said on condition of anonymity under EU media rules. Final confirmation of the move is due June 22, they said.

The behind-the-scenes decision marks a victory for EU President Donald Tusk, a leader of the hardline camp since his time as Poland’s prime minister, and avoids a showdown over Russia policy at an EU summit next week.

“The message to the Russian authorities, to President Putin, is that the EU is continuing its policy of supporting Ukraine and pressing Russia,” Raimundas Karoblis, Lithuania’s ambassador to the EU, said in a telephone interview after the decision. “The member states have shown they are able to implement sensitive decisions.”

The European restrictions bar financing for major Russian banks, ban the export of sophisticated energy-exploration equipment, and prohibit the sale of weapons and some civilian goods with military uses.

Those curbs were set to lapse in late July. A separate blacklist imposes asset freezes and travel bans on 151 people and 37 companies and organizations accused of destabilizing Ukraine. It runs until Sept. 15.

Russian Calculations

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the extension won’t throw off his economic calculations. “Our forecasts took into account that the sanctions would be extended,” he told reporters near Moscow.

Russia plans to react with a six-month prolongation of its ban on the import of a wide range of vegetable, fruit, meat and dairy products from the EU, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. One said that Russia has already found alternative sources and can maintain the EU embargo as long as needed.

“The principle of reciprocity is universal, but one needs to wait for some kind of decisions here,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call when asked if Russia would extend the ban. “There have been no decisions yet.”

European foes of sanctions -- led by Greece, but including countries such as Austria and Hungary -- were neutralized by Tusk’s move to ram the decision through the permanent Brussels-based bureaucracy. Greece’s representative didn’t take the floor in Wednesday’s debate, an official said.

Courting Putin

The new Greek government has courted Russian President Vladimir Putin, both as a financier of Greece’s depressed economy and to gain leverage over European creditors in its quest for more bailout funds. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meets Putin in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Greece’s contacts with the Kremlin have spurred speculation that it would veto an extension in exchange for Russian largesse. EU sanctions require a unanimous vote by the 28 governments. While the time to signal a veto would have been at Wednesday’s meeting in Brussels, opponents will have one more chance to block them before the decision becomes final on Monday.

EU leaders in March made a political declaration to align the sanctions with the end-of-year deadline for full enforcement of a February cease-fire between pro-Kremlin separatists and Ukraine government forces.

Sporadic fighting intensified this month along the line of contact between Ukrainian and rebel troops, putting the cease-fire in jeopardy.

For more, read this QuickTake: Standoff in Ukraine