Economics

EU Fatigue Over Russia Sanctions Shows as Putin Reset Looms

  • Leaders say no agreement to impose new penalties over Syria
  • Existing sanctions over Ukraine rolled over for six months

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Dushanbe on Sept. 15, 2015.

Photographer: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images
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European Union differences over Russia were exposed as leaders arrived for their last summit of the year, underlining the 28-nation bloc’s fatigue with a sanctions regime that is losing support globally.

Even as EU leaders agreed to roll over economic penalties imposed on Russia over Ukraine, they sent divergent signals on whether to widen sanctions against the Kremlin in response to Russia’s bombing of civilians in Syria.