VILNIUS, November 14. /TASS/. EU Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Monday may expand the blacklist of Russian citizens who will be denied entry to the EU member-states, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said on Friday.

He expressed hope that ministers would manage to come to terms on the additional sanctions against the individuals who he claimed were responsible for the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict.

Linkevicius said people from the political, economic and military segments might be added to the blacklist.

He claimed the EU had not exhausted the potential of economic sanctions against Russia. Along with it, he stressed the importance of economic, financial, and political aid to the Ukrainian government.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that the European Union will not impose further economic sanctions on Russia, although sanctions lists could be expanded to add officials of the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine following the November 2 vote which Moscow said it “respects.”

Sanctions harmful to international relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an exclusive interview with TASS that he hopes the initiators of anti-Russian sanctions will realize that they are harmful to international economic relations and the issue will remain in the past.

“This is harmful and, of course, it does certain damage to us, but it is also harmful for the United States as well, because as a matter of fact, the entire system of international economic relations is being undermined,” Putin said ahead of the G20 summit in the Australian city of Brisbane.

“I do hope, and I proceed from the understanding that in the final count, the awareness of this will prevail and bygones will be bygones,” he said.

Putin said the sanctions against Russia “run counter to the very principle of G20 activities, and not only the activities of the G20 and its principles, they run counter to international law, because sanctions may be introduced only through the United Nations and its Security Council.”

Possible lifting of sanctions

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday the decision to lift or extend sanctions against Russia depends on Moscow’s position on the Ukrainian crisis.

“If Russia takes a positive approach towards Ukraine's freedom and responsibility, we could see those sanctions removed, if Russia continues to make matters worse, then we could see those sanctions increased,” Cameron, who is in Australia to take part in the G20 summit, due November 15-16 in Brisbane, told journalists.

The positions of Russia and Western nations on the Ukrainian developments differ radically. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the intra-Ukrainian crisis, but the West accuses Moscow of participation in clashes in Ukraine’s war-torn south-east and has subjected Russia to sanctions.