EU Weighs Stricter Sanctions on Russia Over Ukraine

The European Union is prepared to toughen sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis but wants a political deal to end the confrontation, its leader said Saturday.

“We are ready to take very strong and clear measures, but we are keeping our doors open to a political solution,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Poroshenko arrived in Brussels Saturday to discuss with EU leaders how to deter Moscow, which is believed to be supporting pro-Russia separatists fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine.

In response to reports of new gains by the separatists, Barroso warned that the crisis is reaching “the point of no return.”

Barroso said any tightened sanctions would be intended to press Moscow toward negotiation and to end its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

“It makes no sense to have … a new Cold War,” he said, adding that it would be “detrimental to all of Europe.”

Poroshenko, echoing EU officials’ comments, said he expected a summit of EU leaders later Saturday to formally ask the EU’s executive Commission to draw up new sanctions measures that could be implemented, if necessary.

Barroso noted that his staff already had a broad range of options to propose to member states.

Government troops pulling out

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s national security council, said Saturday that government troops were pulling out of several cities in the east where rebel forces have mounted an increasingly strong show of force.

And Ukrainian military officials said an Su-25 fighter jet was shot down Friday by a Russian missile during fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. The pilot managed to eject safely. There was no indication of precisely where the incident took place.

On Friday, Ukraine announced it is seeking full membership in NATO, as a third front opened in its months long conflict with separatists.

Kyiv is seeking Western military aid as it continues to battle rebels along its eastern border where separatists appear to have taken control of the town of Novoazovsk after several days of fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who European and U.S. leaders accuse of heavily supporting the separatists, has accused Ukraine of repressing its opponents in the country’s east.

He has also compared Kyiv’s push to reclaim rebel strongholds near the Russian border to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II.

NATO summit next week

A two-day NATO summit next week will address what is seen as Russia’s territorial overreach. U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to attend the gathering in Wales, which begins Thursday.

NATO estimates 1,000 Russian troops are conducting “illegal military operations” inside Ukraine, with thousands more marshaled near Ukraine’s border.

Russia has repeatedly denied sending troops into Ukraine or arming pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Labor


 

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