EU Must Seek Exit Strategy Out of Anti-Russia Sanctions

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Union needs strategy to lift the sanctions imposed against Russia as the situation became "critical," Austrian Agriculture Minister Andrae Rupprechter said.

"I think the situation is critical because the EU Council has imposed the [anti-Russia] sanctions two years ago without an exit strategy. Now we must get out of this situation. Chancellor [of Austria Christian Kern] must exert pressure on the European Union," Rupprechter told Oesterreich news outlet in an interview Saturday.

Earlier in September, Rupprechter said that the European Union should use the situation with Britain's exit from the bloc as a starting point for removal of sanctions against Russia, stressing that the revival of normal economic relations with Moscow was vital for stabilization of EU markets.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the West deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia over Crimea's secession from Ukraine and Moscow's alleged meddling in the Ukrainian conflict. Russia has repeatedly refuted the accusations, and warned that the sanctions are counterproductive and undermine regional and global stability.