MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) – EU leaders will urge the European Commission to prepare a new round of measures against Russia, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Saturday.
“EU leaders will certainly task the European Commission with preparing the next level of sanctions,” Gabriel said before an EU summit in Brussels, as quoted by Reuters.
On Saturday, the European Council gathers in Brussels to appoint senior positions and discuss further economic sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated with regard to the situation in Ukraine. The West has repeatedly accused Russia of building up forces on its border with eastern Ukraine and supplying independence supporters with weapons, a claim Moscow has rejected.
In late July, the European Union and the United States proceeded from individual sanctions imposed on a number of people and companies to penalties on whole sectors of the Russian economy. In response, Russia limited food imports from countries that imposed sanctions on it, namely the US, the EU member states, Canada, Australia and Norway.
