According to the source, the permanent representatives considered extending restrictive measures against Russia's Crimea and Sevastopol at their Wednesday meeting and it is currently up to the council to finish the procedure.
On June 2018, the European Union prolonged its Crimea sanctions until June 23, 2019. These restrictive measures prohibit the EU residents and companies from buying real estate or enterprises in Crimea or financing Crimean companies. The bloc is still maintaining its ban for the European cruise ships to enter the peninsula's ports. The sanctions also apply to the exports of certain goods and technologies to Crimean companies.
Crimea and Sevastopol held a referendum in March 2014 following a change of power in Kiev, which the peninsula viewed as a coup. The decision to reunite with Russia was backed by roughly 97 percent of Ukrainians who voted in the referendum.
The West insists that Crimea "was annexed" by Russia and keeps on imposing sanctions on Russia under various pretexts. Moscow, however, stresses that the Crimean vote was held in accordance with international law.