MOSCOW, November 20 (Sputnik) — The European Union is not ready to implement new sanctions against Russia or lift them, as its member countries do not share common views on such moves, Russia's EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Chizhov said that the European Union takes important decisions based on consensus of all 28 member countries. According to Chizhov, there is currently no consensus within the European Union on lifting sanctions earlier implemented against Russia, and at the same time there is no consensus on imposing further pressure.
Chizhov highlighted that public speeches and statements made by European leaders prove his words.
Over the past few months, the European Union, the United States and their allies have implemented several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis — a claim Moscow has repeatedly denied. The sanctions particularly targeted the Russian economy's defense, energy and banking sectors.
The discussion on a new round of sanctions targeting Russia came in the wake of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's statements made earlier in November that the alliance has spotted the movement of Russian military hardware toward Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry denied the allegations.
On Monday, EU foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine. While the EU Foreign Affairs Council decided not to impose additional sanctions against Moscow, the ministers ordered the European Union to add more independence supporters from eastern Ukraine to the bloc's sanctions list by the end of November.
