AFP, BRUSSELS: The European Union yesterday formally extended damaging economic sanctions against Russia by six months due to a lack of progress in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The measures target the oil, financial and defence sectors of the Russian economy and were first imposed after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014, blamed on pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine. "On 1 July 2016, the (European) Council prolonged the economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 January 2017," the EU said in a statement. EU ambassadors agreed on the extension in principle on June 21. The EU said in a tweet in Russian that it was rolling over the sanctions because the provisions of the February 2015 Minsk peace deal aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict were "not fully implemented." Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite warned that they would go on until the conflict was resolved."What goes around, comes around. Sanctions continue until Minsk agreements are fully implemented," she tweeted.