“Last year, we, Europeans, imposed sanctions at several stages. They expire in July and September. We don’t want and we can’t lift them if only the first demands of the Minsk agreements are fulfilled. This would be incorrect,” Merkel announced before the Bundestag in Berlin ahead of the European Union summit.
The United States, the European Union and their allies imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia blaming Moscow for interfering in the conflict in Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied the accusations.
In response to Western sanctions, in August 2014 Moscow introduced a ban on the import of a range of food items from those countries that supported the restrictions.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian Izvestia newspaper reported, citing a source close to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, that more than 200 politicians and officials from the European Union and the United States are on a list of foreign nationals who could be banned from entering Russia.
