The White House decided to extend the term of sanctions against Russia for a year. The US president Barack Obama made a statement in the official webpage of the White House. The statement particularly reads as follows:
"The actions and policies addressed in these Executive Orders continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on March 6, 2014, and the measures adopted on that date, on March 16, 2014, on March 20, 2014, and December 19, 2014, to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond March 6, 2015. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660".
As a clarification to the statement it should be noted that "actions and policies" mentioned in the text refer to "the use of force in Ukraine as well as annexation of Crime by Russian Federation"
In the statement it is stated that the notice should be published in the US Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.