REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, Brussels -- European Union governments extended on Thursday sanctions on Russians and Ukrainians targeted in 2014 over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, keeping asset freezes and travel bans in place until mid-September.

The 28-member bloc said in a statement that 146 people, including Russian-backed former Ukrainian president Viktor

Yanukovich, and 37 companies would remain under sanctions.

The European Union's main economic sanctions against Russia, targeting its energy, banking and defence sectors, expire in July this year and many EU governments want to renew them until Russia upholds its part of a peace settlement in Ukraine.

However, a decision needs consensus and some countriescloser to Russia, including Hungary and Greece, have yet to decide whether they will support a sanctions extension.

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