Group leaders must not waver on Russia sanctions, says EU’s Tusk
TAORMINA: European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday urged Group of Seven (G-7) leaders to stick firmly to their sanctions policy on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, a day after a senior US official said Washington had no position on the issue.
The 28-nation EU bloc said the US imposed sanctions on Russia after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then backed separatist rebels in the east.
While EU leaders have so far backed sanctions until a shaky cease-fire agreement signed in February 2015 in Minsk is fully implemented, US President Donald Trump’s promise of warmer ties with Moscow has tested the EU’s resolve to remain united.
“A solution to the conflict can only be reached with the full implementation of the Minsk accords,” Tusk said ahead of the summit which gathers together the leaders of the US, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada.
“Since our last G-7 Summit in Japan (in 2016) we haven’t seen anything to justify a change in our sanctions policy toward Russia. Therefore I will appeal to the other G-7 leaders to reconfirm this policy,” Tusk told reporters in Sicily.
He warned that this summit would be the most challenging in years given sharp differences on key issues such as climate change and trade.
Tusk was responding to comments by White House economic adviser Gary Cohn on Thursday that appeared to differ to those from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has repeatedly said sanctions must remain until Minsk is put in place.
“I think the president is looking at it. Right now, we don’t have a position,” Cohn said.