The head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian has imposed sanctions on Russia after its decision to recognize separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.
The 27 member states of the EU on Tuesday approved a “sanctions package” “unanimously” against Russia, which will “hurt it very badly”, after its decision to recognize the separatist territories in the east from Ukraine. “We agreed on a first package of sanctions unanimously,” announced the head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian, after the meeting of 27 foreign ministers in Paris.
These sanctions “will hurt Russia very badly”, added the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, specifying that the asset freeze and visa ban will notably target the 351 Russian Duma deputies who approved the recognition of the independence of the separatist territories. “Sanctions don’t have miraculous effects. But sanctions hurt economically and hurt the people affected,” Borrell said, pointing out that EU member countries had decided to keep “other ammunition (…) to respond to new actions on the part of Russia”, because “the story is not over”. “This firmness always leaves the door open to diplomacy”, underlined Mr. Le Drian, while noting that “all diplomatic efforts (…) have come up against a wall” in recent weeks.
“President Putin no longer honors Russia’s signature,” he lamented, adding that the meeting scheduled for Friday in Paris with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had been cancelled.
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