MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. The European Union's sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis may be revised in the end of October, the EU ambassador to Russia said on Tuesday.
"Sanctions will be revised at the end of this month. The decision will be made depending on the progress (in Ukraine) and the fulfillment of Minsk agreements," Vygaudas Usackas said.
On October 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops relocate from the Rostov Region to their cantonment areas. The withdrawal of Russian troops from the drills held in the region, near the border with Ukraine, may help the EU decide to lift its sanctions, a diplomatic source said Monday.
Since March, the EU has imposed nine packages of sanctions on Russia, including banning five state-owned banks from taking long-and mid-term loans in Europe, banning equipment and know-how supplies to the country’s oil sector and freezing EU assets of 119 Russian and Ukrainian officials and barring them from entering the union.
EU relations with Russia, Eurasian Economic Union
The European Union remains open to further relations with Russia and possible contacts with the newly-formalized Eurasian Economic Union, the top EU diplomat added.
“We are open to developing relations with Russia, and we are open to possible contacts with the Eurasian Economic Union,” Vygaudas Usackas said, adding that “it is important to understand what the ambitious aim of creating a common space from Lisbon to Vladivostok means”.
“The European Union wants to build relations with Russia the way we build them with the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea - on the basis of free markets, competition and free trade,” Usackas said.
“I think that when Russia is ready for that, we will get a clear signal of the readiness to develop and create this common trade space, certainly in compliance with international law and with respect for the territorial integrity of our common neighbours,” he added.