Brussels, 16/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 16 June, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, warned that the EU's economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis will not be lifted until the Minsk agreements are applied.
“Therefore, the next step is clear: full implementation of the Minsk agreements no more, no less. This is the only way to lift the economic sanctions that we have imposed”, said Juncker in an address to the World Economic Forum of Saint Petersburg in Russia. He added that the EU, and the G7, were united over Minsk and it was important to continue to talk, even when economic sanctions are in place as the door must be left open.
A European source says that the economic sanctions, which run until 31 July 2016, will be renewed. The source told EUROPE that this was a done deal as the countries that had raised objections now agreed that the sanctions should be fully examined at the end of January 2017. If the persistent rumours that the EU28 ambassadors decide to renew the sanctions at their meeting on Tuesday 21 June, then the source said it was likely (but not certain) that the General Affairs Council would officially adopt the sanctions on 24 June. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)