STRASBOURG (Sputnik) — Anti-Russia sanctions do not encourage resolving the crisis in Ukraine, but are part of the war, Arcadio Diaz Tejera, Spanish senator from socialist party told Sputnik on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the European Union issued a six-month extension of its anti-Russia sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis, due to expire on Tuesday.
"My idea is that all kind of sanctions are part of the war. Economic measures, political measures are part of the war… Each day the situation in Ukraine is worse. I disagree with this escalation, because in my opinion the end of this escalation is war," Tejera said on the sidelines of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) summer session.
He urged to restore dialogue with Russia so that the Russian lawmakers, which were previously stripped of their voting rights in PACE, could continue their work in the organization.
The West is blaming Russia for interfering in the military conflict between Ukrainian authorities and independence supporters in the country's east, a claim Moscow has repeateadly denied.
Russia has many times called the economic sanctions counterproductive.
