On June 25, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted overwhelmingly to fully reinstate Russia to the human rights body, lifting an important European sanction on Moscow in the process. Supporters of Ukraine saw it as a capitulation and defeat.

But elsewhere, sanctions on Russia appear to be more reliable, at least for now. On June 27, the European Union extended a package of economic sanctions against Russia by six months and, on June 20, extended its ban on investments into occupied Crimea for another year.