Brussels, 29/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 3 October, the General Affairs Council may decide to impose sanctions against Uzbekistan further to the events that took place in May this year in the region of Andijan, and President Karimov's refusal to accept an independent international inquiry into the massacres perpetrated at that time. In June, the Council had called on Uzbek authorities to review their position “by end June 2005”. In July, the Council had, as a first step, envisaged sanctions, but they finally back-pedalled on this. According to the draft conclusions prepared on Tuesday 27 September by the EU's Political and Security Committee (COPS), which is still to be examined by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU Member States (Coreper), the Council is expected to decide, on Monday 3 October, to impose an embargo on European exports of military arms and equipment to Uzbekistan as well as on other equipment that could be used for purposes of internal repression. Furthermore, the Member States are expected to decide to suspend technical work on deepening the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.