The EU economic sanctions, which have been in effect for more than seven years since July 2014 following the political crisis in Ukraine and Crimea rejoining Russia, were voted for once again by the leaders of the EU countries, so the decision was made for the prolongation of sanctions against Russia during the EU summit in Brussels, as stated by the EU Council President Charles Michel.
Massive consequences & severe cost will follow if Russia takes further military action against Ukraine.#EUCO leaders unanimously agreed to roll over economic sanctions against Russia.
We call on Russia to keep its part of the bargain and proceed with Minsk implementation. pic.twitter.com/uxeMXxM11u
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) December 17, 2021
This was said even though Russia has repeatedly advised the West to pay more attention to Kiev’s failure to uphold its commitments under the Minsk agreements, as Kiev is currently being “pumped with” modern weapons and escalates the situation in Donbass “with the silent permission of the West.” Moreover, according to the EU Council official website, during the meeting, there was stressed “an urgent need for Russia to de-escalate tensions caused by the military build-up along its borders with Ukraine while reiterating its full support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“Sanctions limit access to EU primary and secondary capital markets for certain Russian banks and companies and prohibit forms of financial assistance and brokering towards Russian financial institutions. The measures also prohibit the direct or indirect import, export or transfer of all defence-related material and establish a ban for dual-use goods for military use or military-end users in Russia. The sanctions further curtail Russian access to certain sensitive technologies that can be used in the Russian energy sector, for instance in oil production and exploration,” the council said.
It is reminded that Moscow has been countering the sanctions, embarking on a course of import substitution, and has repeatedly stated that it is counterproductive to speak with the nation in the language of sanctions. Russia has also repeatedly emphasized that the conflict in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas is an internal one, and Moscow, along with the OSCE, France, and Germany, is only a mediator in its settlement as part of the Minsk agreements. Also, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, stressed that Russia is only trying to build the dialogue and does not pose a threat to anyone.
“It is necessary to switch the situation of negative confrontation into a dialogue,” he said earlier.
However, amidst the lack of productive dialogue between Russia and the Western countries and various sanctions implementation, Moscow decided to proceed with the security agreement for Russia. For this, the country’s authorities have prepared the necessary documents and passed them to the US Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried.
“The President [of Russia] informed that […] American representatives were given concrete proposals aimed at developing legal guarantees to ensure Russia’s security,” the Russian President’s Assistant, Yuri Ushakov, said.
Ru-Main, 17.12.2021
Source: Sputnik
