Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) EU ministers of foreign affairs agreed to impose additional sanctions against Russia and supply Ukraine with more weapons.
Ministers decided to press on with more sanctions after a meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba at the annual UN meeting in New York, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The move comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilisation to support Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine.
Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated at a press conference after the meeting “it’s clear that Putin is trying to destroy Ukraine.”
He added that the bloc will prepare the eighth package of sanctions against “more relevant sectors of the Russian economy and continue targeting people responsible for the war of aggression in Ukraine.”
EU foreign ministers are to meet again next month to formalise the latest sanctions package.
Besides agreeing on additional sanctions, the ministers agreed to supply Ukraine with more weapons. Borrell did not provide details on coming sanctions or arms deals, but expressed belief that EU member states will support new measures unanimously.
Estonia’s stance
Urmas Reinsalu, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed belief that Putin was attempting to divide and frighten the West. He stressed the importance of adopting a new sanctions package quickly and directing more EU money towards Ukraine.
“We should also declare the commitment of legal responsibility… the fuhrers in the Kremlin should not take it for granted that their accountability for the genocidal war should be taken mildly,” Reinsalu added.
He announced that Estonia will not allow Russian citizens fleeing mobilisation to enter the country, stressing that “refusal to fulfil one’s civic duty in Russia or a desire to do so does not constitute sufficient grounds for being granted asylum in another country.”
On Wednesday, Magyar Nemzet daily reported that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticised EU sanctions against Russia and expressed belief they should be scrapped.Orbán stressed that sanctions drove up inflation and energy prices, predicting that price of natural gas would halve and inflation drop if the bloc scrapped the measures. He added that EU’s sanctions are harming the bloc more than they are Russia.
