Britain urges tighter EU sanctions for Russia

LONDON: Britain was scheduled to call yesterday for the European Union to increase sanctions against Russia, saying the bloc had to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the United States, which hit Moscow with new economic curbs this month.

Britain’s foreign minister, Jeremy Hunt, was expected to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the world “a more dangerous place”, and that after a chemical weapons attack in England, the EU should apply more pressure to ensure Russia sticks to international rules.

“Today the United Kingdom asks its allies to go further by calling on the European Union to ensure its sanctions against Russia are comprehensive, and that we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the US,” Mr Hunt was due to tell an audience in Washington in his first major speech since his appointment in July.

“That means calling out and responding to transgressions with one voice whenever and wherever they occur, from the streets of Salisbury to the fate of Crimea.”

Britain, the EU, and the US blame Russia for a nerve agent attack against a Russian double agent in the English city of Salisbury earlier this year. The Kremlin denies involvement.

Earlier this month the US, citing the Salisbury incident, imposed sanctions against Russia covering national-security related goods. It has promised more hardhitting measures unless Russia gave “reliable assurances” it would no longer use chemical weapons.

The sanctions sparked a sell-off across Russian markets, and pushed up the country’s cost of borrowing — with both likely to worsen if the second wave of measures is enacted.

Britain is preparing to leave the EU next year but its sanctions policy is currently determined in Brussels. The EU recently agreed to renew sanctions against Russia relating to its annexation of Crimea and activity in the region.

But the EU has not imposed sanctions related to Salisbury, although it strongly condemned Moscow and joined international action to expel Russian officials. Its measures against Russia include finance restrictions and arms exports.

Mr Hunt, who took over from Boris Johnson as Britain’s foreign minister in July, was due to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today and address the UN Security Council tomorrow.

His speech yesterday outlined other threats Britain sees to the global order, including telling China that “with economic power comes political responsibility”, and criticising their inaction over Crimea.

“The risk of a messy divorce, as opposed to the friendship we seek, would be a fissure in relations between European allies,” his prepared speech stated in relation to Brexit.