Natalia Dobrovolskaya. The head of the European Council Donald Tusk said that He was pleased by the position of the EU on sanctions against Russia and tried to persuade the EU to redouble efforts to support reforms in Ukraine.

on Wednesday, the Committee of permanent Plenipotentiaries of the member countries of the EU (Coreper) has taken a policy decision to extend by six months, until March 2016, expiring fifteen September individual penalties against individuals and legal entities from Russia and Ukraine, which the European Union considers responsible for undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. As said Last news European diplomat, the list will remain almost unchanged - it will exclude only one person involved, who is no longer alive.

"of course, I am satisfied that the Union has maintained unity on sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation after the illegal annexation of Crimea. The way forward is to redouble our efforts to support the reform process in Ukraine and to oppose attempts to destabilize the country, " said Tusk at the Symposium of the permanent representatives of the EU in Brussels.

according to his statement, " the new appeal not to violate the ceasefire, effective from Tuesday, and vitally important agreement on the reduction of the debt of Ukraine is very welcome."" Let's hope for proper implementation of the Minsk agreement, which in recent months was dangerously close to failure, " said Tusk. He said that " the recent tragic events in Kiev only prove how difficult is this process ".

at the last meeting of the trilateral contact group on settling the situation in Ukraine, which took place on 26 August in Minsk, the parties agreed on the need to achieve a ceasefire in the Donbass from 1 September.

sections: Politics