Time not right to ease Russia sanctions – EU
uropean Union foreign ministers said yesterday there were no grounds to lift economic sanctions against Russia despite conciliatory proposals from the EU’s foreign policy chief as violence intensified in eastern Ukraine.
Federica Mogherini had suggested in a confidential memo seen by Reuters that member states could start talking to Russia again about global diplomacy, trade and other issues if Moscow implemented agreements to end the separatist conflict in neighboring Ukraine.
“I don’t think that we now should think how to re-engage. Russia should think how to re-engage,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told reporters as he arrived for a meeting where Mogherini’s paper was to be discussed.
Mogherini’s suggestion has gone down badly with some of the EU’s more hawkish states, such as Lithuania, which suggested it would send the wrong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the EU’s resolve was cracking.
The EU has joined the United States in imposing tough sanctions on Russia over its alleged support for the proMoscow rebels in Ukraine but the bloc’s 28 member states are divided in their enthusiasm for sanctions.
Linkevicius said there was no reason to change the EU’s policy or to lift sanctions.
With attempts to restart peace talks stalled, rebels have stepped up attacks in the past week and casualties have mounted. Fighting has raged around Donetsk airport.