Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual year-end press conference in Moscow, capital of Russia, on Dec. 17, 2015. (Xinhua/Dai Tianfang)

BRUSSELS, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Council of the European Union (EU) on Monday decided to extend the sanctions against Russia for another six months, until July 31, 2017.

The Council said in a press release that after assessing the implementation of the Minsk agreements at the EU summit on Dec. 15, the EU leaders paved the way to renew the sanctions.

The sanctions include limiting access to EU primary and secondary capital markets for five major Russian majority state-owned financial institutions and their majority-owned subsidiaries established outside of the EU, as well as three major Russian energy and three defense companies.

The sanctions also involve imposing a trade embargo on arms, an export ban on dual-use goods for military use or military-end users in Russia, and curtailing Russian access to certain sensitive technologies and services that can be used for oil production and exploration.

The EU slapped the sanctions on Russia in July and September 2014 in response to an alleged role that Russia had played in conflicts in east Ukraine.

In March 2015, EU leaders decided to align the existing sanctions to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements.

Taking stock of the situation in east Ukraine, the EU in July extended the sanctions against Russia until Jan. 31, 2017.

In response, Russia imposed a year-long embargo on food imports from Western countries in August 2014, and extended the anti-sanction measures for one more year in June 2015.

In late June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to extend embargo on food imports from the EU and other countries until the end of 2017.