EU extends Russia sanctions citing ‘lack of progress’ on Minsk, while giving Ukraine deal new chance

“It was clear that we would prolong the sanctions for six months,” European Council President Donald Tusk told a press conference, following the EU summit in Brussels. He noted that although “some of our colleagues would prefer [to extend sanctions] maybe [for] 12 months,” there was not much of a debate on the issue.

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Reuters reported that Poland was one of the states pushing for a longer extension period, but its proposal was dismissed by other countries, in particular Italy, which has opposed the policy previous occasions as detrimental as detrimental to its economy. 

Touching on the possible change in EU policy toward Russia, including, in terms of sanctions, with new US President-elect Donald Trump assuming the office in January, Tusk refused to speculate on the matter, saying that “we have too many signals.”

At the same time, he noted that the leaders have not discussed a possibility to adopt another package of punitive steps against Russia in connection with situation in Syria.

The lack of progress in implementation of the Minsk Accords that outlined political settlement of the military conflict between rebels in self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk Peoples’ Republics and the Ukrainian government in Kiev was cited by EU leaders as the reason for the sanctions to stay. The EU considers Moscow to be backing the rebels militarily and having an influence on their rapprochement with Kiev.

READ MORE: Ukrainian minister says Donbass residents genetically unfit for national culture

“The French President [Francois Hollande] and I…reported that the implementation goes at a slow pace, but this is a single foundation we have,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, adding that “unfortunately, the progress is not enough so we would be able to say that we can ease the sanctions on that basis.”

Hollande pointed out that reconciliation in Ukraine is a two-sided process and is impossible without Kiev’s commitment to the deal. But the EU apparently decided to stimulate the lack of progress on Kiev’s side with pushing for the association agreement with Ukraine, which has been left in limbo following the April referendum in the Netherlands that overwhelmingly rejected it.

“The Ukrainian government should, also, for its part, fulfill obligations under the Minsk Accords. But we needed to give them some kind of perspective, so we made this decision, which will allow the Netherlands to ratify the Association Agreement [between Ukraine and the EU],” Hollande said.  

In a possible other reason why the deal was given a new chance, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the failure to reach the agreement on it would have been perceived as “an enormous present for Russia,” Reuters reported.

“Now the responsibility lies with the Netherlands. The ratification is important not only for Ukraine, but also for Europe’s geopolitical standing and credibility,” Tusk said, commenting on the breakthrough. 

As a way to court the Dutch, the document appears to have lost some of its original value in the conciliation process and now has fewer advantages available for common Ukrainians. Under the reviewed agreement, Ukraine will not automatically be considered a candidate for the EU membership, neither its citizens would be granted a right to work and live in the EU. The EU also will not pledge military and financial assistance within its framework.

The agreement will be submitted for ratification to the Dutch Parliament in January, according to Rutte. It needs the approval of all 28 members of the union to come into effect.

Meanwhile, Washington welcomed the prolongation of sanctions against Russia in a telephone call between US Vice President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, the White House said in a statement.

The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow will also proceed with its embargo on EU food important imposed as retaliatory measures in response to the EU sanctions. 

“We have retained those countermeasures so far but should be ready that sooner or later this period will end, and competition will be here again,” Medvedev said on Thursday, although noting that the restrictions were imposed “not to annoy our Western partners” but rather to give a boost to Russian business. 

After the people of Crimea overwhelmingly voted in favor of reuniting with Russia following the overthrow of the Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich in February 2014 and the consequent turmoil in Ukraine, the EU imposed an array of economic sanctions targeting Russia’s banking, energy and defense sectors. Russia responded with counter-measures imposing a food embargo on the countries that backed the sanctions.

Source Article from https://www.rt.com/news/370474-eu-sanctions-summit-ukraine/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

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