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The
U.S. and European Union are pressing ahead with new sanctions against
Russia, voicing skepticism President Vladimir Putin will abide by the
cease-fire Ukraine struck with separatists.
U.S., EU Push Russian Sanctions to Ensure Ukraine Truce
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The U.S. and European Union are
pressing ahead with new sanctions against Russia, voicing
skepticism President Vladimir Putin will abide by the cease-fire
Ukraine struck with separatists.
European Union diplomats meeting in Brussels yesterday were putting the finishing touches on the bloc’s broadest sanctions yet after Ukraine agreed to a truce with pro-Russian insurgents. President Barack Obama said the U.S. has readied penalties to be enacted in coordination with EU governments.
The U.S. and Europe are “finalizing measures to deepen and broaden our sanctions across Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors,” Obama said at the close of a NATO summit in Newport, Wales. Asked about the cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, Obama said he was “hopeful, but based on past experience, also skeptical.”
While the suspension of hostilities raises the prospect of ending a conflict that has killed more than 2,600 people and displaced 1 million more, its permanence “has to be tested,” said Obama. Leaders from Germany, France and the U.K. also called for additional penalties regardless.
“A cease-fire, yes, good news, a peace plan would be better news, but the sanctions go ahead as announced,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters at a separate briefing in Newport. While the measures could be removed “if proper milestones are reached,” he said.
The U.S. has decided on the measures to be implemented and is just working out wording and some specifics, according to three U.S. government officials who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Any extra EU sanctions need the formal endorsement of national governments, which could delay taking a final decision to enact them. If the governments opt to forge ahead, measures could be in place within a day.
In an initial set of economic sanctions imposed in late July, the EU barred five state-owned Russian banks from selling shares or bonds in Europe; restricted the export of equipment to modernize the oil industry; prohibited new contracts to sell arms to Russia and banned the export of machinery, electronics and other civilian products with military uses -- so-called dual-use goods -- to military users.
Proposals on the table also include shortening to 30 days from 90 days the maturity of debt whose sale in the bloc by the targeted Russian businesses is banned, tightening the restrictions on dual-use goods and extending the curbs on technologies for the oil industry.
The EU is in any case due to expand a blacklist of people and companies subject to asset freezes in Europe.
The truce was reached yesterday at a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, that was attended by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, the mainly Russian-speaking regions where most of the fighting has occurred, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which will help monitor the accord.
The rebels, though, remained defiant, with the leader of Luhansk, Igor Plotnitskiy, telling reporters that the agreement doesn’t alter the goal of “splitting” from Ukraine.
“The cease-fire will save lives, not only of civilians, but also of those who defend their ideals, goals and tasks with weapons,” said Alexander Zakharchenko, who calls himself prime minister of Donetsk.
Putin, 61, is fully behind the cease-fire, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the Interfax news service.
Putin wants to turn Luhansk and Donetsk into quasi statelets with the right to veto major national initiatives, such as Ukraine joining NATO, afive current and former Russian officials and advisers said before the talks in Minsk.
Poroshenko, 48, said on his website his peace plan follows what he and Putin agreed to by phone, with “significant” steps toward “decentralization” in Donestk and Luhansk, including special status for parts of those regions relating to the economy and use of language. He didn’t elaborate.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ian Wishart in London at iwishart@bloomberg.net; Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net; Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net Brad Cook
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European Union diplomats meeting in Brussels yesterday were putting the finishing touches on the bloc’s broadest sanctions yet after Ukraine agreed to a truce with pro-Russian insurgents. President Barack Obama said the U.S. has readied penalties to be enacted in coordination with EU governments.
The U.S. and Europe are “finalizing measures to deepen and broaden our sanctions across Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors,” Obama said at the close of a NATO summit in Newport, Wales. Asked about the cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, Obama said he was “hopeful, but based on past experience, also skeptical.”
While the suspension of hostilities raises the prospect of ending a conflict that has killed more than 2,600 people and displaced 1 million more, its permanence “has to be tested,” said Obama. Leaders from Germany, France and the U.K. also called for additional penalties regardless.
“A cease-fire, yes, good news, a peace plan would be better news, but the sanctions go ahead as announced,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters at a separate briefing in Newport. While the measures could be removed “if proper milestones are reached,” he said.
U.S. Measures
EU leaders called on Aug. 30 for further penalties against Russia to be drafted within a week after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country was being invaded by troops and tanks. Options include barring some Russian state-owned defense and energy companies from raising capital in the EU, according to European officials.The U.S. has decided on the measures to be implemented and is just working out wording and some specifics, according to three U.S. government officials who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Any extra EU sanctions need the formal endorsement of national governments, which could delay taking a final decision to enact them. If the governments opt to forge ahead, measures could be in place within a day.
Buffer Zones
“We have to look to see if this cease-fire is valid, we’ll have to see whether Russian troops are withdrawing from where they are, whether there are buffer zones, and other things,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Wales. More sanctions may “very well be put in place, but with the stipulation that they could be suspended if we see that this process really is taking place,” she said.In an initial set of economic sanctions imposed in late July, the EU barred five state-owned Russian banks from selling shares or bonds in Europe; restricted the export of equipment to modernize the oil industry; prohibited new contracts to sell arms to Russia and banned the export of machinery, electronics and other civilian products with military uses -- so-called dual-use goods -- to military users.
Proposals on the table also include shortening to 30 days from 90 days the maturity of debt whose sale in the bloc by the targeted Russian businesses is banned, tightening the restrictions on dual-use goods and extending the curbs on technologies for the oil industry.
The EU is in any case due to expand a blacklist of people and companies subject to asset freezes in Europe.
‘Need Proof’
“Sanctions have helped find a solution in Ukraine,” French President Francois Hollande said after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit. “Now we need proof that it’s a lasting cease-fire.”The truce was reached yesterday at a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, that was attended by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, the mainly Russian-speaking regions where most of the fighting has occurred, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which will help monitor the accord.
The rebels, though, remained defiant, with the leader of Luhansk, Igor Plotnitskiy, telling reporters that the agreement doesn’t alter the goal of “splitting” from Ukraine.
“The cease-fire will save lives, not only of civilians, but also of those who defend their ideals, goals and tasks with weapons,” said Alexander Zakharchenko, who calls himself prime minister of Donetsk.
Putin, 61, is fully behind the cease-fire, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the Interfax news service.
Putin wants to turn Luhansk and Donetsk into quasi statelets with the right to veto major national initiatives, such as Ukraine joining NATO, afive current and former Russian officials and advisers said before the talks in Minsk.
Poroshenko, 48, said on his website his peace plan follows what he and Putin agreed to by phone, with “significant” steps toward “decentralization” in Donestk and Luhansk, including special status for parts of those regions relating to the economy and use of language. He didn’t elaborate.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ian Wishart in London at iwishart@bloomberg.net; Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net; Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net Brad Cook
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