EU Leaders Weigh Sanctions Against Russia Over Ukraine
European Union leaders meeting in
Brussels will consider expanded sanctions against Russia over
the Ukraine conflict, as the U.S. urges the bloc to take a
tougher stand against Moscow.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the question of
possibly stronger penalties against Russia is on the agenda for
an EU summit today.
“We haven’t spoken with every member state,” she told
reporters after a meeting in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik
yesterday, adding that she didn’t want to ‘‘pre-empt the
results.’’
The U.S. urged its European allies to support deeper
sanctions against Russia and accused its former Cold War foe of
sending heavy weapons and other support to separatists as peace
talks struggled to inch forward. Objections by countries such as
Italy, Austria, Slovakia, France and Greece have frustrated
moves toward broader EU sanctions, which require unanimity.
President Barack Obama’s administration pressed European
Union ambassadors at a meeting on July 14 to halt what American
officials called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
destabilizing actions, according to three participants. The U.S.
may sanction Russia’s financial and defense industries — with
or without its European allies — and measures could be imposed
as soon as this week, U.S. officials said on condition of
anonymity.
Separatist Support
“While Russia says it seeks peace, its actions do not
match its rhetoric,” the U.S. government said in a statement.
“We have no evidence that Russia’s support for the separatists
has ceased. In fact, we assess that Russia continues to provide
them with heavy weapons, other military equipment and financing
and continues to allow militants to enter Ukraine freely.”
The 28-nation EU has imposed asset freezes and visa bans on
72 people and two companies connected with the destabilization
of Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March, measures
that advocates of stricter sanctions say are symbolic gestures.
Ukrainian forces are trying to encircle and wipe out
insurgents who retreated to the mainly Russian-speaking cities
of Luhansk and Donetsk and to shore up its 2,000 kilometer
(1,200 mile) eastern border. Tensions escalated this week after
Ukraine’s government said Russian forces may have shot down one
of its military airplanes, while its neighbor blamed Ukrainian
forces for shelling that killed one person in Russia.
Unprecedented Fighting
In Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said
yesterday the “unprecedented” fighting in east Ukraine,
including the use of tanks and other heavy military equipment,
“is a test of credibility” for the EU.
Officials from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe were scheduled to hold a
video call yesterday with rebel representatives. The call didn’t
occur, though, and in a statement the officials said “this
indicates a lack of willingness on the side of the separatists
to engage in substantive talks on a mutually agreed cease-fire.”
Russia’s Micex Index fell 0.4 percent to 1,477.58 at 6:37
p.m. in Moscow yesterday. The hryvnia strengthened less than 0.1
percent to 11.71 per dollar in Kyiv.
An An-26 transport plane was shot down in eastern Ukraine
July 14 by a “powerful weapon” not previously used by the
separatists, probably from inside Russia, Ukrainian Defense
Minister Valeriy Geletey told President Petro Poroshenko,
according to the president’s website.
Russian Involvement
It was probably struck either by an air-to-air missile from
a jet based at Russia’s Millerovo base or a surface-to-air
rocket from a mobile system, Andriy Lysenko, a Defense Ministry
spokesman, said in Kyiv on July 14. The government has
“undisputed proof” that Russia was involved, Interfax
reported, citing the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service,
Valentyn Nalyvaychenko.
Eleven people were killed and eight were wounded when a
residential building was attacked in Snezhnoe, Donetsk region,
the local administration said in a statement on its website. The
village was attacked by an unidentified plane that was not from
the Ukrainian military, Interfax reported yesterday, citing
Lysenko.
Poroshenko informed EU President Herman Van Rompuy about
numerous new indications of militants and military equipment
crossing the border from Russia into Ukraine, according to a
statement on the Ukrainian president’s website yesterday. In a
telephone call with Van Rompuy, Poroshenko also outlined his
position regarding the summit that starts this evening,
according to the statement.
Merkel Comment
Poroshenko additionally talked by phone with Merkel, and
the German leader said Ukraine would get “firm support” at the
meeting, according to the president’s website.
The U.S. State Department tried to ratchet up pressure. In
a statement, it said many of the self-proclaimed leaders of the
separatists “hail from Russia and have ties to the Russian
government.” It also said it was “confident” Russia was
mobilizing tanks, anti-aircraft systems, rocket launchers and
other armored vehicles to a site in southwest Russia to help the
separatists.
“We are concerned much of this equipment will be
transferred to separatists,” the State Department said. “We
are confident Russia has already delivered tanks and multiple
rocket launchers to them from this site.”
It said Russia was moving forces back to its border with
Ukraine and that it had allowed officials from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic to establish a recruiting
office in Moscow. Separatists are still holding as many as 150
mostly civilian hostages in Ukraine, including teachers and
journalists, according to the statement.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Daria Marchak in Kyiv at
dmarchak@bloomberg.net;
Patrick Donahue in Berlin at
pdonahue1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net
Kevin Costelloe, Don Frederick