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BRUSSELS Envoys from the European Union's member states should discuss rolling over EU sanctions for six months on Friday, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.
The ambassadors had planned to confirm the rollover last week but Italy called for a discussion of the issue, holding up the renewal. EU and Italian officials do not expect problems in renewing the sanctions but Prime Minister Matteo Renzi may raise the issue of EU relations with Russia when he meets fellow EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Thursday evening.
Tusk, who chairs summits and has pushed for a tough line with Moscow, said in his letter inviting leaders to Brussels that a rollover of sanctions would be in line with a previous summit agreement tying any relaxation to full implementation of an accord between Russia and Ukraine made at Minsk in February.
"I have asked the Presidency to put on the agenda of COREPER (the EU envoys' meeting) this coming Friday the proposal to roll over sanctions on Russia for another six months," Tusk wrote.
"This will be the direct consequence of the March European Council conclusion, according to which the duration of the restrictive measures against the Russian Federation should be clearly linked to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements."
(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Francesco Guarascio)