Luxembourg premier: EU should avoid new sanctions against Russia

And seek ways to de-escalate, said Xavier Bettel

European Union should avoid new sanctions against Russia and look for ways to de-escalate tensions in its relations.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said this on Monday on his arrival at an EU summit.

“We will discuss relations with Russia. The EU should avoid new sanctions against Russia and look for ways to de-escalate relations with it”, –  he said.

The topic of relations with Russia was to have been a key one on Monday during the working dinner at the EU summit of heads of state and government, but the incident with the forced landing in Belarus of the plane of Irish budget airline Ryanair has shifted all the emphasis, and now the EU summit will focus on discussing the response to this move by Minsk.

Commenting on the situation, Bettel expressed the opinion that the actions of “the Belarusian dictator defy description” and that they “endangered the lives of the EU citizens”.