Moscow waits for EU’s official position on extending sanctions — Kremlin

Russian Politics & Diplomacy November 09, 2015, 13:41

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on reports by anonymous sources in German media that EU would extend sectoral sanctions against Russia

SOCHI, November 9. /TASS/. Moscow waits for Brussels’ official position on extending anti-Russian sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.

Peskov refused to comment on reports by anonymous sources in German media that EU would extend sectoral sanctions against Russia.

"Such newspaper reports without concrete references, citing sources, are not a reason to form a certain position," the spokesman said. "We are waiting for our partners to form a position. This is absolutely Brussels’ decision," he added.

EU countries disagree on extending sanctions against Russia in January

A diplomat from one of East European delegations told TASS on Monday that EU countries have no agreement yet on extending economic sanctions against Russia that expire at the end of January 2016.

"Sanctions have not significantly influenced Russian policy in Ukraine and Russia’s position toward Crimea over the last 1.5 years [EU sectoral sanctions were imposed on 31 July 2014]. There are no grounds to think that keeping them will change anything. At the same time, reciprocal restrictions considerably affected the economies of EU member countries, so several European countries have no grounds for extending them," the diplomat said.

He reminded that the final decision on European sanctions against Russia will be made at the session of EU foreign ministers in the middle of January 2016.

"However, everyone understands that, taking into account great political significance of this problem and existing disagreements between EU countries, we can expect a political discussion on extending sanctions to continue at the scheduled summit of EU leaders on December 17-18 in Brussels," he noted.

This topic will not be on top of the agenda at the summit though as it will primarily focus on the migration crisis, the diplomat added.

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