The European Union is Set to Roll Over Sanctions on Russia

Bloc attempting to pressure Moscow to fully implement Minsk cease-fire conditions

The European Union is, in the coming weeks, looking to roll over its broad economic and targeted sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis until late January, according to a number of senior officials and diplomats.

(L-R) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, 
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor 
Angela Merkel attend a working dinner with representatives of the 
European Round Table of Industrialists on June 1, 2015 
at the Chancellery in Berlin. AFP

The continuation of the sanctions are part of an effort to maximize the bloc’s leverage in pushing the Kremlin to fully implement its side of the Minsk cease-fire agreement, the officials say.

The decisions are likely to deepen tensions with the Kremlin, which had appeared to be hoping to split the EU over sanctions policy and was hoping the relative quiet in eastern Ukraine since the cease-fire accord was signed on Feb. 12 would encourage its friends in the bloc to at least lighten the measures.

A fireman passes in front of damaged shops on Wednesday 
after shelling at a market outside Donetsk, a rebel stronghold 
in Ukraine. Photo: alexander ermochenko

While the plans aren’t finalized—some haven't even been formally discussed yet at EU level—the officials say there is growing confidence in Brussels that the bloc is united behind a policy which would ensure no weakening of EU pressure on Russia until Moscow has fully met its cease-fire commitments. These include pulling troops out of Ukraine and handing back control to Kiev of the Ukrainian side of the border between the two countries.

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