Brussels - The EU is checking reports that Russian armed forces allegedly entered Ukrainian territory after the so-called elections held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, European External Action Service spokesperson Maja Kocijancic has said.
“We’ve seen these reports. Our services are currently trying to get more information and check what’s really going on,” she said at a press briefing in Brussels on Monday, Nov. 3.
When asked whether the “elections” in DPR and LPR may prompt the EU to revise the EU sanctions against Russia, Kocijancic said: “Restrictive measures are being constantly revised, and it has remained so until now.”
She added that “the member states will discuss this later in the week.”
Kocijancic also cited EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini who said on Nov. 2 that these elections had been held “contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Minsk Protocol” and “obstruct efforts to find a sustainable political solution” to the crisis in Ukraine.
Kocijancic told Interfax that the issue of “elections” held in DPR and LPR would be discussed at a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Nov. 17.
However, a preliminary exchange of views on this matter may take place earlier at the level of permanent representatives of the EU states, she said, without naming the format of the meeting.
Kocijancic said that the review of restrictive measures remains “an ongoing process, they are reviewed on a regular basis,” and, as has been widely reported, “their prospects depend on the development of the situation” in Ukraine.
