EU freezes US-dictated Ukraine sanctions ahead of peace meet
10 Feb 2015 12:22 AM GMT
The European Union on Monwday put fresh sanctions against Moscow on hold ahead of a summit to thrash out a Ukraine peace plan aimed at ending 10 months of bloodshed.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the EU would hold off implementing new individual sanctions to improve the chances of success at the four-way summit planned for Wednesday in Minsk. “The latest peace initiative shows that things have begun to move,” Fabius said in Brussels.
“The principle of the sanctions will be kept but their implementation will depend on the situation.” EU foreign ministers had been set to formally sign off on adding 19 more people to a sanctions list over Moscow’s alleged backing of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. The announcement came as officials from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France were to hold talks in Berlin ahead of the hoped for meeting in the Belarussian capital to push the new peace deal.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the EU would hold off implementing new individual sanctions to improve the chances of success at the four-way summit planned for Wednesday in Minsk. “The latest peace initiative shows that things have begun to move,” Fabius said in Brussels.
“The principle of the sanctions will be kept but their implementation will depend on the situation.” EU foreign ministers had been set to formally sign off on adding 19 more people to a sanctions list over Moscow’s alleged backing of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. The announcement came as officials from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France were to hold talks in Berlin ahead of the hoped for meeting in the Belarussian capital to push the new peace deal.
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