Ukrainian Ambassador to Latvia: The West shouldn't abandon its principles with regard to Russia
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Latvia Yevhen Perebiynis stated in his interview to Latvijas Avīzē that Europe shouldn’t abandon its principles or its sanctions against Russia in the name of short-term economic benefits.
“We can’t fail to note that some EU countries, not without the influence of Russia, issued statements that sanctions could be lifted without implementation of the Minsk Agreements. We took care of this situation and clarified our position. The European Union is a democratic structure in which member countries can express any view during discussions. However, after all, it adopts a unified position,” the ambassador explained.
“If individual countries don’t want to respect this principle, it destroys the main basis of the European Union – its values. The replacement of values by short-term economic benefits has never been natural for European democracy,” Perebiynis noted.
The diplomat cited the Baltic States, which are having serious economic problems due to sanctions and continue to defend the European values, as an example to be followed. “The members of the Latvian government have the right to arrange meetings that they believe to be important. Meeting with the representatives of Latvia, we always express hope that the Latvian position related to sanctions will remain strong. That is what happened and we are grateful to our Latvian friends for this,” Perebiynis said.
On August 22, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, stated that he believes providing international support to the country and maintaining international sanctions are the main tasks of Ukrainian foreign policy. Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia in 2014 because of the situation in Ukraine.