KAUNAS/VILNIUS, Lithuania - The European Union could revise anti-Russian sanctions with due account taken of the situation in eastern Ukraine, where elections were held on Nov. 3 unrecognized by the West, said European Union Ambassador to Russia Vygaudas Usackas.
“Our position has been consistent all along. The European Union will decide on whether the sanctions could be revised this or that way depending on the situation in eastern Ukraine and on whether Russia will or will not help stabilize the situation,” Usackas said in an interview with the BNS news agency in Kaunas on Nov. 3.
“There is a nuance” in Russia’s position on the elections in eastern Ukraine, he said.
“They have not recognized the outcome of the elections directly for now, but they said officially that they would respect the choice made by the people and, second, that Russia would respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity. So, there is a nuance here,” he said.
There are no reasons for lifting the sanctions thus far, he said, adding, however, that sanctions are not a goal in itself, therefore progress in implementing the ceasefire agreement could lead to a discussion of ways of easing them.
“We don’t see reasons yet to lift the sanctions, but the implementation of the Minsk accords and concrete signs of stabilization of the situation in Ukraine are what would provide reasons for the European Union to sit down at a negotiating table and review the anti-Russian sanctions. We don’t see results that would encourage us to lift the sanctions,” Usackas said.
“Our opinion is quite definite: we regret that these elections after all did not comply with the Ukrainian legislative base, and that they did not match the provisions of the Minsk Memorandum which says that elections in Luhansk and Donetsk must proceed in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation. Therefore, our opinion is negative. We, the European Union, do not recognize these elections, and this is becoming another irritant in the context of efforts to negotiate a peace agreement. Therefore, the EU continues to support and speak in favor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” the diplomat said.
Usackas spoke at the Kaunas University of Technology on Nov. 3 about the European Union’s activities in Afghanistan and Russia.
