The European Union's Council announced on Thursday that it will prolong anti-Russian economic sanctions by another six months.

"On 5 July 2018, the Council prolonged economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until 31 January 2019," the council said in a statement.

According to the statement, the council unanimously adopted this decision by written procedure, in line with the rule for all such decisions.

"The measures target the financial, energy and defense sectors, and the area of dual-use goods. They were originally introduced on 31 July 2014 for one year in response to Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine and strengthened in September 2014," the statement reads.