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Lithuania’s ex-foreign minister slams new EU sanctions package as meaningless

Linas Linkevicius also noted that the European Union paid Russia more than Ukraine as aid

VILNIUS, July 17. /TASS/. Linas Linkevicius, the foreign minister in Latvia’s previous government, said the European Union's sanctions against Russia were counter-productive, and the new package of sanctions currently in the works was no exception.

"Seventh package of sanctions [is] in preparation. Who cares?" Linkevicius asked rhetorically in a Twitter post on Saturday.

According to the former minister, the EU "has now sent exponentially more money to Russia in oil, gas and coal purchases than it has sent [to] Ukraine in aid."

"Oil prices are up. Ruble is even stronger," he wrote, describing the situation as "lamentable."

Meanwhile, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday, commenting on EU recommendations on cargo transit to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, called for a soonest adoption of the European Union’s seventh package of anti-Russian sanctions.

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