“The goal is not sanctions, the goal is to get Mr. Putin to the negotiating table,” EU Financial Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said today in interview on broadcaster France 2.
The European Union followed the U.S. in intensifying sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle to pressure his government to defuse the global standoff over Ukraine.
With Russia on the verge of annexing Crimea and massing troops near Ukraine’s eastern border, the U.S. and the EU are moving to coordinate their response as they press Putin to back down. The crisis marks the worst confrontation between the West and Russia since the Cold War ended more than two decades ago.
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