This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
EU threatens Russia with unspecified new sanctions if Ukraine crisis worsens
Sorry - this page has been removed.
(7 months later)
The European Union has threatened Russia with new trade sanctions if Moscow fails to start reversing its action in Ukraine, but sharp divisions among leaders at a summit in Brussels left the timing of any measures uncertain.
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason.
After a lengthy briefing by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, who warned “full-scale war” was imminent if Russian troops continued an advance in support of pro-Moscow rebels, the EU leaders agreed on Sunday to have officials draw up within a week a list of new measures that could hit a range of sectors.
But anxiety about the impact of sanctions on their own sluggish economies – and their access to Russian energy supplies – meant a divided EU could not agree to impose firm deadlines or precise conditions on Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. He denies his forces are involved, in the face of substantial evidence.
For further information, please contact:
The European Council called on Russia “to immediately withdraw all its military assets and forces from Ukraine” and urged a ceasefire. The leaders asked the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, to prepare proposals on new sanctions for them to review within a week, including measures that would penalise any person or body which dealt with Ukraine’s eastern separatists.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said Putin must act to avoid further measures: “There will be decisions about new sanctions, if the current situation goes on or deteriorates.”
She said the penalties could be in any of the business sectors the EU has already said could be targeted.
The British prime minister, David Cameron, said: “We have to show real resolve, real resilience, in demonstrating to Russia that if she carries on in this way the relationship between Europe and Russia ... America and Russia, will be radically different.”
The US applauded the move late on Saturday.
“We welcome the European Council’s consensus today to show strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to prepare further sanctions for consideration in coming days,” the White House national security spokeswoman, Caitlin Hayden, said in a statement.
The US was working with the EU to prepare further sanctions, she said.
But asked about a deadline for EU action, the summit chairman, EU Council president Herman van Rompuy, said: “It depends, further steps, on development of the situation on the ground. There is no precise criteria, but I can assure you that everybody is assured that we have to move quickly.”
Underlining division among the 28 member states during talks that lasted until after midnight, the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, called sanctions “meaningless and counter-productive” and threatened to veto any new measures that harmed Slovakia’s interests. Those include its need for Russian gas.
Van Rompuy, whose successor was named on Saturday as Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, conceded that the sanctions caused problems for member states: “But this is the price to pay.” In her first comments after being appointed the EU’s foreign policy chief, the Italian foreign minister, Federica Mogherini, stressed the need to work for a diplomatic deal with Russia.
“As we think and we work on the level of sanctions, we also have to keep the diplomatic way open ... hoping that the combination, a wise combination, can be effective,” she said.
