European Union slaps new economic sanctions on Russia

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Union slapped new economic sanctions on Russia on Friday, Sept 5, but said they could be suspended if Moscow withdraws its troops from Ukraine and observes a ceasefire, Reuters reported.

Some provisions will make it harder for Russian state-owned firms to raise finance in the EU. Diplomats expect them to hit, among others, the oil company Rosneft and units of Gazprom, though not the gas firm itself, a main supplier to the EU.

A further 24 people were added to a list of those barred from entry to the bloc and whose assets in the EU are frozen.

"The ambassadors agreed on a package of sanctions against persons and sectors of the Russian economy," Reuters quoted one senior EU diplomat involved in the talks as saying.

"The implementation is expected on Monday," the diplomat said. "A ceasefire must hold for sanctions to be lifted."

Earlier, diplomats spoke of possibly postponing the sanctions coming into force for up to a week to give President Vladimir Putin time to show he was resolving the conflict. But impatience with Russia's ambiguity in the Ukraine conflict won.

Confirming the deal should take effect on Monday, the presidents of the European Commission, the EU's executive, and of the European Council, which groups the 28 governments, said: "It will give the European Union an effective tool, which should allow us to provide a response within a short time span. It will increase the effectiveness of the measures already in place."

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Council President Herman Van Rompuy said: "It will also reinforce the principle that EU sanctions are directed at promoting a change of course in Russia's actions in Ukraine."

Ukrainian government representatives and pro-Russian rebels agreed to declare a ceasefire on Friday at talks in Minsk, the first such breakthrough in the five-month war, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said signing the deal was not in itself enough to halt sanctions.

Merkel told a news conference at a NATO summit that it would have to be verified whether the ceasefire was being implemented, whether Russian troops were being withdrawn and whether a buffer zone was established. "Everything is in flux," she said, according to Reuters.

"Therefore we should expect that these sanctions could indeed be put into force, but with the proviso that they can be suspended again if this process really takes place," Merkel said.

Britain also backed such a solution.

The latest wave of sanctions was announced after Western countries said they believed Russia had sent ground troops into Ukraine, helping the militias with a major advance last week.