EU summit earlier adopted a statement of intent to develop dialogue with Moscow while exploring new sanctions against it
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell promised to work towards building a more predictable relationship with Russia in the interest of the community. He wrote this on Twitter on Friday in connection with the adoption of a statement at the EU summit on the intention to develop a dialogue with Moscow and at the same time explore the possibility of new sanctions against it.
“I will, together with the European Commission, follow the recommendations of the European Council to promote a more predictable relationship with Russia, protecting our interests”, – Borrell said.
EU leaders on Thursday at a summit in Brussels did not support the initiative of Germany and France to hold an emergency Russia-EU summit. This idea was blocked by Eastern European states. Instead, the summit decided to instruct Borrell’s office to develop proposals for dialogue with Russia on a number of topics of interest to the EU, including climate, health, international conflict resolution, Iran’s nuclear programme, the situation in Syria and Libya. At the same time, it was tasked with exploring new possibilities for imposing additional sanctions against Russia, including economic sanctions, in case Brussels considers it is “taking malicious action against the EU”, or its members.