The European Union moved on Friday to extend economic sanctions against Russia for six more months for its annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in Ukraine, even as European leaders clashed on policy toward Russia with testy exchanges over a Russian gas pipeline project to Germany at the last scheduled summit meeting of a tumultuous year. The ostensible unity of the decision to extend sanctions was diminished by disagreements among members over the gas pipeline project that added a sour coda to a year of crises — including terrorist attacks and a wave of hundreds of thousands of migrants — that has already badly tested the bloc. At the center of the dispute were tensions between Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany over the pipeline project, Nord Stream 2, which would significantly increase the amount of Russian gas delivered to […]