Europe mulls fresh sanctions against Russia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Several European countries are considering whether to push for EU sanctions against senior Russian officials over the bombardment of Aleppo, the besieged Syrian city at the centre of a deepening diplomatic rift between Moscow and the west, the Financial Times reports.

A senior EU diplomat said Britain, France and Germany were among EU states exploring the possibility of targeting up to 12 Russians before a summit next week.

Tensions between Russia and the west over Syria have escalated dramatically since the collapse of ceasefire agreement last month, which was brokered by Washington and Moscow.

After the deal fell apart, the Syrian regime and Russian war planes launched an intense bombardment of the rebel-held east of Aleppo, causing U.S. and European officials to accuse Moscow of being an accomplice to war crimes.

It remains unclear whether any EU sanctions — which would require approval from all 28 member states — would be directed exclusively at people within the Russian military or officials within President Vladimir Putin’s wider administration.

Even as talk of new sanctions intensified, the US and Russia said on Wednesday that they would resume talks at the weekend over the Syrian conflict. The US had cancelled bilateral negotiations with Moscow over a new ceasefire two weeks ago amid the intense bombing of eastern Aleppo by Russia and the Syrian regime.

The state department said the talks in Lausanne on Saturday would be “multilateral” and would involve other countries in the region involved in the Syrian conflict as well as Russia and the US. John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, will then fly to London on Sunday to discuss Syria with European and Middle Eastern allies.

European foreign ministers are due to discuss the Syrian conflict at talks on Monday, three days before the EU discusses its broader relationship with Russia at a summit in Brussels. A senior EU diplomat said Britain, France and Germany were also pushing to impose sanctions on up to 20 officials in President Bashar al-Assad’s regime at the ministers’ meeting.