EU, the US to implement sanctions on Russia
22:49
The European Union after its leaders met on Thursday in Brussels to discuss the tensions in Ukraine, condemned Russian involvement in Crimea. “There has to be a return to international law, and that means securing the territorial integrity of every country,” German chancellor Angela Merkel said. “We can't do business as usual with Russia,” she added.
After the meeting, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, announced that the EU has suspended talks with Russia on visa-free travel of its citizens to the EU member states and the New Agreement trade deal.
“The solution to the crisis should be found through negotiations between the Governments of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, including through potential multilateral mechanisms. Such negotiations need to start within the next few days and produce results within a limited timeframe. In the absence of such results the European Union will decide on additional measures, such as travel bans, asset freezes and the cancellation of the EU-Russia summit,” the EU wrote in a statement. Also EU-located assets of 18 ousted Ukrainian authorities, including those of former president Viktor Yanukovich have been frozen.
If Russia took action that destabilizes Ukraine further, there would be “grave consequences” for bilateral economic ties, Van Rompuy added, without giving any deadlines. Poland's PM Donald Tusk said the EU talks on sanctions had been "stormy", but added that “ we've reached far more than most could have expected.”
The bloc also said that it plans to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine before the end of August.
Similar measures were announced by the US which also imposed travel bans on several Ukrainian and Russian citizens, who are “responsible for, or complicit in, threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
US will send 12 F-16 fighter jets and 300 service personnel to Poland next week for a training exercise whose scope was expanded in response to the crisis in neighboring Ukraine.
