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EU foreign policy chief doubts West is consolidated on anti-Russian sanctions

She said that at a meeting with US administration officials, the sides "agreed, that as long as the 'Minsk' agreements are not fully implemented sanctions will remain in place"

WASHINGTON, February 11. /TASS/. The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said at the Atlantic Council meeting in Washington Friday that she was not sure whether Western allies would treat anti-Russian sanctions as a "consolidated policy."

She said that at a meeting with US administration officials, the sides "agreed, that as long as the 'Minsk' agreements are not fully implemented sanctions will remain in place."

"But I don't know if this is going to be a consolidated policy," the EU top diplomat said.

"For us the sanctions are not a policy itself, it's not sometning we take particular please of. For us it's an instrument," she added.

Following the developments in Ukraine in 2014 and Crimea’s reunification with Russia, the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia and has numerously extended them ever since. Talks on visa-free travel and on a new basic cooperation agreement were suspended. A number of Russian officials were banned to enter the European Union and their assets were frozen. Apart from that, the European Union imposed trade, financial and defense-sector restriction. In all, more than 150 individuals and several dozens of legal entities have been blacklisted by the European Union. Sectoral sanctions were imposed on a number of Russian financial, oil producing and defense entities.