Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov says it is inadmissible to ease sanctions against Russia as it continues violating the Minsk Agreements, and calls for their strengthening until Russian-occupied territory is freed.
Turchynov told Chair of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Security and Defense Anna Fotyga and other EP members at a meeting that the earlier imposed sanctions have “just started yielding results,” and therefore “to talk about easing or rolling back the sanctions would mean to break the united front, which has been formed in Europe against the aggressor [Russia],” the NSDC’s official website said.
“On the contrary, we must begin to strengthen the sanctions until concrete results are achieved – the liberation of the occupied areas, a cessation of offensive military operations by the Russian Federation, and an end to the arms race, which is currently being performed by Russia,” he said.
According to Turchynov, Russia defiantly violates the Minsk Agreements every day, and until militant attacks are ceased, statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin about his willingness to peacefully resolve the conflict are “cynical and misleading.”
The NSDC’s chief also pointed to militarization of the occupied Crimea, the build-up of Russia’s military capacities in the Kaliningrad region, the establishment of military bases in Syria, which is “proof of the active militarist position taken by Russia, which does not even conceal its aggressive intentions.”
Summing up, the NSDC head said that Ukraine has no alternative to integration into the European Union and NATO, and “despite the ongoing aggression against our country and economic hardships, we continue to constantly move in this direction.”
In turn, Fotyga expressed the EU’s support of reforms and the European integration course of Ukraine, as well as understanding of the need for maintaining the sanctions against Russia. European MPs also expressed hope that the ratification of the Association Agreement by all the EU member states and visa liberalization will take place in the near future.
