Sikorski backs EU sanctions against Russia

Polish Foreign Ministers Radoslaw Sikorski (C-L) and new British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (C) chat prior to the start of a Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 22 July 2014.

“The cup of bitterness has overflowed against Russia for what it did in Ukraine,” Sikorski told reporters after Tuesday's meeting.

“The European Commission is to propose intelligent, precisely targeted sanctions which will have an impact on Russia, at a minimal cost to our side,” he added, noting that details would be discussed on Thursday.

Besides more asset freezes and visa bans, among the sanctions suggested was an arms embargo, relating to newly signed or future contracts.

However, there was friction after France's president Francois Hollande confirmed that at least one warship (a Mistral helipcopter carrier) would still be delivered to Russia as a result of a 2011 deal signed by his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

People hold signs and Ukrainian national flags during a rally in front of the French embassy in Kiev over the possible sale of two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia by France, in Kiev, Ukraine, 22 July 2014.. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

Hollande said that a second warship due as part of the deal will be held back, depending on Russia's conduct.

President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite went as far as to compare the French attitude to Europe's appeasement of Hitler in the late 1930s.

“If European states keep on acting so indecisively, this is a direct invitation for the aggressor to be more aggressive and go further,” she said. (nh)

Source: PAP/Reuters