Putin extends Russian counter-sanctions against EU until end of 2018 - Tass citing Kremlin

President Vladimir Putin has extended Russian counter-sanctions on the European Union until the end of 2018, according to a presidential decree published on Friday.On Wednesday the EU formally extended its economic sanctions on Russia, imposed in July 2014 in response to Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and Moscow’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.Putin recently claimed that the the sanctions had the beneficial effect of encouraging Russian agricultural and mineral output, and domestic production was beginning to replace the lost imports.