BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is ready to impose a second set of sanctions against Russia, including export controls, in the event of a further incursion into Ukraine, beyond the two territories held by separatists in the east of the country, the executive vice-president of the European Commission said on Wednesday.
Valdis Dombrovskis stressed in a Reuters interview that Russia had chosen the path of a “major escalation” in the current crisis, as Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of two breakaway regions of Donbass and announced the sending troops there.
These initiatives led the EU, the United States and Britain to announce financial sanctions against Russia on Tuesday.
The Twenty-Seven, who fear a possible large-scale offensive from Russia, will hold an emergency summit on Thursday to discuss the crisis around Ukraine.
“If there is an additional Russian aggression and an additional incursion into Ukrainian territory, we are prepared to also intensify our response, in terms of sanctions”, declared Valdis Dombrovskis.
Asked what this might mean in practice, the executive vice-president of the European Commission replied: “It would involve economic sanctions in the field of trade, for example controls on exports.”
“The EU has been working on a sanctions package for several weeks, so we have the means to allow us to act quickly and to intensify the sanctions, in cooperation with the United States, Great Britain and other countries” , he continued.
Valdis Dombrovskis noted that the Ukrainian conflict, Western sanctions and possible retaliatory measures from Moscow would have economic repercussions for the EU, but that the seriousness of the stakes required the Community bloc to accept all of this.
“Making significant sanctions against Russia will have some impact on the European economy and we have to be prepared for that,” he said.
“But the security and territorial integrity of Ukraine is at stake, the wider security of (Europe’s) architecture is at stake, so we have to be able to react and also bear an economic cost if necessary.”
(Report Jan Strupczewski; French version Jean Terzian)
by Jan Strupczewski