Court backs EU sanctions over Ukraine crisis

An EU court yesterday rejected a bid by eight Russian companies to cancel sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis, ruling that the measures were reasonable and proportionate.

The judgement by the General Court of the EU came as Brussels extended asset freezes and travel bans against Russian and Ukrainian officials and companies by another six months over the crisis, which has rumbled on since early 2014.

A group of companies, including Russian energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom, asked the court to cancel the sanctions, which restrict their access to capital markets and bar EU companies from selling them certain goods and equipment.

The Luxembourg-based court said in a statement that the measures were "consistent with the objective of maintaining peace and international security", in line with EU treaties.

"The court rules in particular that the reasons given by the council for the contested acts are sufficient and that the statements of reasons enabled the entities concerned to ascertain the reasons for the restrictive measures affecting them and to challenge them," the statement said.

The EU introduced the sanctions as part of measures to punish the Kremlin for the annexation of Crimea and for its support for pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Separately, the European Council, which groups the bloc's 28 member states, yesterday rolled over sanctions against 155 people and 44 entities, which includes businesses, organisations and political parties.

"An assessment of the situation did not justify a change in the sanctions regime," the council said in a statement.

The EU imposed the economic sanctions against Russia after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014, killing 298 people, an attack the West blamed on pro-Russian rebels.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the rebel insurgency broke out in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions in April 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.