Lithuanian foreign minister pushes for new sanctions against Russia
Western countries must impose additional sanctions on Russia, since the existing ones are not working well enough to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, as stated by the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Linas Linkevičius, at the GLOBSEC security forum in Bratislava.
According to him, discussions on the lifting of sanctions are premature since the situation in Ukraine is not changing, and Russia is providing military support to militia in the Donbas.
Since Lithuania borders with Russia, the situation with the Crimea has been alarming to the “Baltic neighbours” who are afraid of “Russian aggression”, he added.
Linkevičius emphasized that the sanctions are the only way for the West to put pressure on Russia. According to him, additional restrictions need to be put in place, but doing this is “not so simple”.
EU foreign ministers have advocated an extension of the sanctions on Russia, said Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski after a meeting of the heads of the foreign ministries in Brussels. According to him, Russia “is not complying with the Minsk agreements”, which is why “the majority of those who have spoken on this matter” believe that the restrictions must be continued.
Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in April that the EU is urging Russia to comply with the Minsk agreements.
On May 7, Lavrov said that Moscow does not intend to get involved in the EU’s discussion about Russia.