You're reading: EU political opinion of Ukrainian crisis one-sided, Luhansk civilian casualties overlooked

Brussels - The European Union stays on the track of sanctions although this track obviously leads to nowhere, Russian Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov told Russian reporters in Brussels on Wednesday. He spoke about the Foreign Affairs Council meeting held on Tuesday, July 22.

The ministers agreed to expand the blacklist regarding Ukraine and
Russia by Thursday, July 24 and to consider new steps towards limiting military
contacts and the provision of financial services and innovative
technologies to Russia.

“This is an intermediate decision. Let us see what services of the
European Commission and the European External Action Service will have
to say on Thursday, July 24. Unfortunately, political opinions about the
Ukrainian crisis remain one-sided. For some reason, the European
Council did not recall the death of civilians in Luhansk,” Chizhov
stressed.

“I understand that the pressure the United States is putting on EU
countries by straightforward pushing or its own example will hardly
weaken. At the same time, speaking of economic sanctions, we have to
understand that what the EU calls the third-stage sanctions, i.e.
sanctions on Russian economic sectors, will require the convocation of a
new summit of the European Union,” he said.

Regarding the final statement of the EU ministers, the Russian envoy
noted, the EU “understands the seriousness of the situation.”

“The language of the final document of the Foreign Affairs Council
meeting held on Tuesday cloned to a large extent the UN Security Council
resolution, which was unanimously passed on Monday, July 21. I would like to
hope that this understanding also means they realize that such tragedies
as the Malaysian plane crash are not a subject to score political
points on,” the Russian envoy said in conclusion.