BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU) on Friday announced to prolong the economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until Jan. 31, 2017.

According to a press release issued by the Council of the EU, the economic sanctions prolonged with the decision include limiting access to EU primary and secondary capital markets for 5 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.