BRUSSELS, June 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Participants in the EU summit did not take any decisions on imposing economic sanctions on Russia, the European Council said in a final statement on Ukraine at the EU summit, noting that new steps regarding Russia might be taken in the future, if the situation in east Ukraine required this.

"The European Council recalls that the European Commission, the EEAS and the Member States have been undertaking preparatory work on targeted measures [against Russia], as it requested in March [21], so that further steps can be taken without delay.

The final statement also emphasizes that "following its March conclusions and the decision not to recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, the European Council welcomes the work undertaken by the Commission to give effect to this policy and the decision to prohibit the import of goods from Crimea and Sevastopol which do not have a Ukrainian certificate".

 

Reasons for the decision

A source in the delegation of one of the western countries said on Friday that EU leaders possibly did not consider as appropriate imposing sectoral trade and economic sanctions against Russia.

“Although the confrontation in Ukraine’s east continues and there is evidence that volunteers and weapons continue arriving in the conflict’s area through the Russian border, at the same time we see positive signs including the parliament’s recall of the decision on the possibility of applying military force in Ukraine, as well as the start of the dialogue between Russia and Ukraine at the highest level,” the source said.

The diplomat believes, in this situation “the imposing of economic sanctions would be counterproductive and would possibly lead Russia to self-isolation and to further escalation of the conflict”.