Brussels, July 18, (dpa/GNA) – EU foreign ministers said on Monday, that there should be no doubt about their commitment to sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, despite fraying nerves amid rising energy prices in Europe.
The European Union is “not going to stop supporting Ukraine and putting sanctions on Russia,” the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
EU foreign ministers are gathered to discuss a new package of sanctions, to ban Russian gold exports from the bloc, and step up the enforcement of existing punitive measures.
However, the impact of current Russian sanctions on the EU overshadowed the start of the meeting. Borrell flatly denied any requests from EU member states to roll back any measures, related to soaring energy costs.
Germany’s energy woes were also in focus, with the scheduled maintenance shutdown of Nord Stream 1, a major Russian gas supply pipeline for Germany, drawing concern.
Starting in June, even before turning off the taps for this week’s maintenance, Russia had been throttling Nord Stream’s flows, in what is seen as retaliation for European sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine.
“There are no sanctions to gas, this is Russia’s doing,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, rejecting suggestions to moderate the measures.
The Lithuanian said he was confident Germany was prepared for any adverse scenario. Anna Lührmann, a senior official in the German Foreign Ministry, stressed Berlin’s efforts to diversify the energy supply amid the Ukraine war.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is to update his EU counterparts via video-link, about his country’s defence against Russia. EU foreign ministers are also expected to give the go-ahead to €500 million ($504.3 million) more in military aid for Ukraine.
GNA