BRUSSELS, Dec 15, (Asia Free Press): Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU), a political and economic union of 27 member-states primarily from Europe, in a meeting held in Brussels, Belgium have decided to impose severe economic sanctions on Russia if Moscow launches a new military assault into Ukraine, local media reported.
In a Foreign Ministers level meeting, the EU has urged that “We are ready to scale up its sanctions and take “unprecedented measures” against Russia if it shows further aggression towards Ukraine”.
Ursula Von der Leyen, European Commission President, speaking early in the European Parliament, said the EU had worked closely with the United States to draw up options beyond existing sanctions targeting Russia’s financial and energy sectors, dual-use goods, and defence.
“Our response to any further aggression may take the form of a robust scaling-up and expansion of these existing sanctions regimes,” she told EU lawmakers.
“And of course we are ready to take additional, unprecedented measures with serious consequences for Russia,” she asserted.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has warned of firm confrontation if the United States and NATO fail to give Moscow security guarantees concerning its eastern expansion.
He said President Vladimir Putin had demanded legally binding security guarantees that NATO will not expand further east or place its weapons close to Russian territory.
