Russian President Vladimir Putin (back) attends a meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - 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.