BRUSSELS: The European Union was set to agree on new economic sanctions against Russia today but could suspend them if Moscow withdraws its troops from Ukraine and observes a ceasefire, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Ukrainian government representatives and pro-Russian rebels agreed to declare a ceasefire on today at talks in Minsk, the first such breakthrough in the five-month war, but Merkel said the deal was not in itself enough to halt sanctions.
It would have to be verified whether the ceasefire was being implemented, whether Russian troops were being withdrawn and whether a buffer zone was established, she told a news conference at a NATO summit, adding: “Everything is in flux.”
“Therefore we should expect that these sanctions could indeed be put into force, but with the proviso that they can be suspended again if this process really takes place,” she said.
Britain also backed such a solution. Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond told the BBC he favoured going ahead with the immediate implementation of sanctions and then lifting them if the ceasefire held.
Earlier, diplomats spoke of possibly postponing the entry into force of the sanctions for up to a week to give President Vladimir Putin time to show he was resolving the conflict.--REUTERS.