Klimkin: A step-by-step lifting of sanctions against Russia would be 'senseless'
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin, considers the step-by-step lifting of sanctions against Russia, as advocated by Austria, "senseless," as he stated in an interview with Austrian magazine Profil, according to the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s Facebook post. "If there were no sanctions, the temptation ‘to create facts on the spot’ would be much greater for Vladimir Putin. Sanctions are the only line between good and evil, peace and war, which in this situation was made by the European Union. No sanctions – no difference between good and evil, you can do anything you want," Klimkin noted.
He also answered the question as to whether there is any sense in a step-by-step lifting of sanctions as proposed by Austrian Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz.
"I see no sense. Russia insists that they are not a party to the conflict; they don’t demonstrate any remorse or readiness to correct what they have done. That is, we want to sweeten what Russia doesn’t want to hear. We are taking steps towards those who continue to insist on their right to redraw Europe's borders and attack their neighbors at their sole discretion. It is like we want to encourage a criminal to kill less this year than in the previous one. Isn’t that distorted logic?" Klimkin noted. According to him, the EU should force Russia to return to the basics of international law, withdraw troops from the Donbas, release the Crimea, and return control over the border to Ukraine.
It has been reported that the U.S. Congress will consider a bill on the imposition of sanctions against the Russian Federation again.