EU prolongs sanctions over Russia's Crimea annexation

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union prolongued its travel bans and asset freezes over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea for another six months, until March next year, EU governments said on Thursday.

"Today the Council decided to extend the sanctions targeting persons and entities that continue to undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, for a further 6 months until 15 March 2021," the EU said in a statement.

"The existing restrictive measures provide for both travel restrictions and the freezing of assets, and will continue to apply to 175 persons and 44 entities," it said.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss, Robin Emmott)