Russian sanctions: The odds are stacked in favour of Brussels extending its programme of sanctions against Russia when it reviews the situation in January, EU President Donald Tusk said yesterday, but it will be harder to hold the line once Donald Trump moves into the White House in the new year. France, Germany and the US continued to support him in maintaining a cohesive response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, Poland’s former Prime Minister insisted, and predicted that he would win approval for the imposition of further 6-month extension of economic and political sanctions on Moscow .
“All signs indicate that we will manage to jointly extend the sanctions on Russia at least one more time” he told the Polish television station TVN24, “but no-one can say what will happen in six months’ time.
“I believe that after the (US) elections and Donald Trump’s victory it will be harder to build such an unequivocal, uniform policy of the Western world toward Russia.”
Along with the collapse in oil prices and the sustained weakness of the rouble, the sanctions that the EU imposed in July 2014 – which include the cancellation of top-level meetings, travel bans and asset freezes on people linked to the Crimean annexation or thought to be interfering with Ukraine’s territorial integrity – contributed to the Russian economy shrinking by 3.7% last year.
Tusk expects Russian sanctions to be extended – but for how long?
Source: nytimes