The Russian government and commodity exporters are interested in the weak ruble. So, they express the official stance that the domestic economy benefits from Western sanctions. Now they can rejoice as the sanctions have been prolonged. The EU leaders have agreed to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months.

This decision was made at the recent summit in Brussels. Chairman of the European Council Donald Tusk commented in his Tweeter that the "EU will extend economic sanctions against Russia for their lack of implementing the Minsk Agreement". However, the EU sanctions do not affect the interests of ordinary citizens of Russia in any way, they are imposed against a number of Russian businessmen, officials, and state companies of oil, defense, and financial sectors. There are also sanctions against the Crimea. The Russian authorities reiterate that the sanctions primarily harm Europe and that there is disagreement about their need among the members of the European Council. However, this time the EU sanctions were prolonged even without discussion and the news about it was published before the ministers of 28 EU countries arrived at the meeting in Brussels. 

In other words, the issue of lifting the sanctions has not even been opened yet.

Interestingly, ordinary Russians withstand the EU sanctions well which is quite understandable since these measures are taken against officials and state-owned companies. However, the citizens of the country suffer more from the Russian retaliatory sanctions. Well, it never rains but it pours. If the government is in trouble, why should not the people share the trouble as well?