The European Union decided on Monday to hold off temporarily on slapping sanctions on more Russians and Ukrainian separatists and await the outcome of possible peace talks later this week. With the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine due to hold negotiations in Minsk, Belarus, on Wednesday, the EU has held off placing asset freezes and travel bans on 19 more individuals, including five Russians, for their actions in eastern Ukraine. It said the situation would be reviewed on Monday.
“The principle of the sanctions is maintained but the application will depend on what happens on the ground,” said French Foreign Minister laurent Fabius. “We will see if the meeting has taken place, what kind of results there are. And then we will be able to draw conclusions.” The EU Foreign Ministers are throwing their weight behind fresh diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, rejecting calls by some US politicians to provide lethal defensive weapons to Kiev.
But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier cautioned that the Minsk meeting is not set in stone yet. “We hope that the outstanding issues can be resolved to a point that a Minsk meeting would hold some promise and can produce the first steps toward defusing the situation and a cease-fire,” he told reporters in Brussels, adding “(but) it’s not yet certain.”