MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. Poland and Baltic countries want to tighten the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions, Russia's Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said in an interview with TASS.
"The sanctions are prolonged every six months. There are three sets: the Crimean one is immediately prolonged a year, another one is a blacklist of individuals. There are also sectoral, or economic sanctions," the diplomat reminded. "Each set has its own time limit."
"The politicians gather together and say: it’s time, we have to do something. Then some countries state that sanctions do not work, that it is a fruitless venture, so let’s annul them, because business is suffering. Then others chime in - Poland, Baltic countries - and say: "Yes, we agree, the sanctions do not work, but only because they are not strict enough. We need to tighten them, and then everything will be fine," Chizhov noted.
"The chairman at the meeting says: "If there is such a difference in opinion, I propose leaving things as they are, we’ll come back to this in six months. The most important thing is maintaining unity." Then I receive a call: "Mister Ambassador, there was a serious threat that the sanctions could be tightened, but we managed to avoid it," the Russian envoy said.
The diplomat also noted that by tightening the sanctions against Russia, the EU "only stimulates Kiev violating the Minsk agreements."
In reply to the question about when the EU will publicly speak about Kiev violating its obligations and implement certain measures in this regard, Chizhov said that Moscow does not expect the situation to change in the nearest future. "In March 2019, the Ukrainian elections will take place, and in May - the elections to the European Parliament. In October-November, a new European Commission will be formed, and a new president of the European Council will be appointed, instead of Donald Tusk. It’s a whole chain of events," he stated.