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EU threatens new Russia sanctions over Ukraine violence

29 January 2015, 13:32 CET
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EU threatens new Russia sanctions over Ukraine violence

Russia - EU

(BRUSSELS) - European Union leaders on Tuesday threatened new sanctions against Russia over a bloody offensive by pro-Kremlin Ukrainian rebels, the latest bid to pressure a defiant President Vladimir Putin.

The decision came a day after Standard and Poor's downgraded Russia's foreign currency rating to junk because of its eroding economic health, weakened by a wave of Western financial restrictions last year and the plunging price of its oil exports.

The downgrade put still more pressure on Russia's depreciating ruble.

But the Western moves so far appear to have done little to change Putin's approach to the conflict in Ukraine or dent his massive approval ratings at home.

With the death toll climbing in Ukraine's separatist east and rebels refusing to return to the negotiating table, the 28 EU leaders tasked their foreign ministers with considering tough new measures when they meet on the crisis on Thursday.

Their rare joint statement voiced concern over what they said was Russian support for the rebels, who have made recent gains and are suspected of targeting the strategic port city of Mariupol in a weekend rocket attack that killed 30 people.

"We condemn the killing of civilians during the indiscriminate shelling of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on 24 January 2015," they said.

"We note evidence of continued and growing support given to the separatists by Russia, which underlines Russia's responsibility."

EU leaders would review the situation at their next summit in Brussels on February 12, the statement added.

Under Brussels rules the foreign ministers will task the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, with drawing up new sanctions, which would then have to unanimously be approved by the leaders.

The debate over new sanctions could test Western nations' unity in the Ukraine conflict and raise questions over how far they are willing to go to support Kiev.

Backing for existing economic measures against Moscow was previously seen as weakening among European countries that rely on Russia for trade.

The attack on Mariupol and the rebel advance have however led to mounting concern over the situation in Ukraine, with both Brussels and Washington issuing strong condemnations and threatening repercussions for Moscow.

US President Barack Obama has said he would look at all options -- short of military intervention -- to restrain Putin's alleged campaign to cripple Ukraine's pro-Western leadership by stripping away the country's vital eastern industrial base.

But even with its economy hard hit by sanctions and low oil prices, Russia has refused to blink.

Responding to suggestions that new sanctions could include cutting off Russia from the SWIFT international banking system, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would hit back strongly at such a move.

- 'Cold facts, not illusions' -

A largely ignored peace plan dating from September has failed to stop the conflict which has claimed around 5,100 lives since the insurgency erupted in April.

Fourteen more people were reported killed on Tuesday, including a nurse who died when shells hit near a hospital in Svitlodarsk in the Donetsk region.

The focus of the fighting remained the area around Debaltseve, located halfway between the rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday adopted a measure declaring Russia an "aggressor state" and labelling the two self-proclaimed separatist republics in the east "terrorist organisations".

Ukraine has also leaned on Western countries to hit Moscow with tougher sanctions, with the United States and European Union having already imposed a series of economic measures since Russia annexed Crimea in March.

Brussels first slapped asset freezes and travel bans on Crimean, Ukrainian rebel and Russian figures, including some close to Putin. The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July led to much tougher economic sanctions, hitting the country's defence, energy and finance sectors.

EU president Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, took a tough stance against Russia at the weekend.

"Once again, appeasement encourages the aggressor to greater acts of violence," Tusk tweeted after the Mariupol attacks. "Time to step up our policy based on cold facts, not illusions."

Many of the EU's newer members are from eastern Europe and deeply suspicious of Russian motives, fearing that their former Cold War master wants to reassert its influence.

But the latest fighting and Putin's continued defiance has put the EU on the spot.


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