BRUSSELS, August 14 (RIA Novosti) – EU member states’ foreign ministers have no plans to discuss new economic sanctions against Russia, a high-ranking EU representative told the press Thursday.
“With regard to a new round of economic sanctions, I think it is a little bit too early at this stage,” the representative said.
The official said the ministers will study the consequences that the previous economic sanctions had on both EU members and non-EU states.
“This is the first step we have to take. Then we’ll look ahead and decide what we will have to do as a next step,” said the official in answer to a question on whether the ministers were going to discuss new anti-Russian sanctions.
The EU Foreign Affairs Council is to hold an emergency meeting on the crises in Iraq and Ukraine Friday in Brussels.
In late July, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Norway, Japan and Australia introduced a new round of economic sanctions against Moscow over its stance on the crisis in Ukraine. The list of sanctions includes the restriction of access to European capital markets for a number of major Russian banks. The Kremlin has reacted by limiting imports of food and agricultural products from a number of countries that imposed sanctions.
