EU draft would extend Russia sanctions over Ukraine escalation

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Exclusive: EU draft would extend Russia sanctions over Ukraine escalation

BY FRANCESCO GUARASCIO
BRUSSELS Wed Jan 28, 2015 11:04am EST

(Reuters) - The EU has prepared a draft statement for the foreign ministers of its 28 members to agree to extend sanctions against Russia by six months, add new people to the sanctions list and prepare new measures.

Foreign ministers have called an extraordinary meeting for Thursday after a new advance by pro-Russian rebels. Kiev says 30 civilians were killed in shelling of the Ukrainian government-held port of Mariupol by pro-Russian rebels on Saturday, shattering a five-month ceasefire.

"In view of the worsening situation, the Council (of foreign ministers) agrees to extend the restrictive measures targeting persons and entities for threatening or undermining Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity ... until September 2015," draft conclusions for the meeting, seen by Reuters, said.

The statement was referring to asset freezes and travel bans put on dozens of Ukrainians and Russians since Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula last March.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-ukraine-crisis-eu-idUSKBN0L11AE20150128

[bemildred]

1. No end to the Ukraine-Russia war in sight

No end to the Ukraine-Russia war in sight

The Ukraine-Russia war has already led to more than 5,000 deaths and caused the suffering of millions of innocent people including leaving more than 1 million people internally displaced. The continued torture, parading and brutal killing of Ukrainian soldiers by the Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country is a violation of international humanitarian law and should be considered a war crime.

The Minsk cease-fire agreement which was signed in September 2014 remains on paper alone. Russia has never adhered to it or the majority of conclusions coming from EU heads of state summits and meetings of foreign ministers. Out of the some 24 requests, Russia has only implemented around four and those only partially. Demands to de-escalate have been ignored; the border remains open with numerous recorded citing’s of military equipment and soldiers crossing back and forth with so called humanitarian aid. If Russia is serious about peace and the commitments it signed up for, why is the border still open? Why is heavy military machinery moving across the border and around the Donbas? Why is Russia not condemning the inhumane actions of the separatists?

Since the Minsk agreement was signed Ukraine’s territory has been further nibbled away. The response from the West has been two-fold: demanding de-escalation and trying to appease Russia with talk about sanction relief if Moscow adheres to the cease-fire agreement. The recent, much discussed paper, of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, is one such example. In their efforts to find a solution that would help Vladimir Putin “save face,” they seem to have missed the point that he is not interested in saving face. President Putin fully believes in his own convictions, aims and the Russian population supporting him.

http://blogs.euobserver.com/paul/2015/01/28/no-end-to-the-ukraine-russia-war-in-sight/