President of Freedom House international organization David Kramer has said that Western countries must impose stricter sanctions against the Russian Federation for its policy towards Ukraine.
Kramer said that he hoped the United States and Canada would soon
impose additional sanctions, as Western countries had to impose stricter
sanctions against Russia and prevent Russia’s actions, instead of
reacting to them.
He noted that sanctions that had been already imposed against the
Russian Federation were a good first step, but only the first one.
Besides, he stressed that Russian economy had already felt the consequences of the adopted decisions.
He said he was sure that the Ukrainian authorities and Western
countries must never recognize Crimea’s annexation. According to him,
the meeting between United States, the EU, Russia and Ukraine on the
current situation in Crimea won’t yield positive results.
Kramer said that he didn’t think the meeting would end with any kind
of a decision. According to him, Russia suggests federalization, which
is a way to destroy Ukraine; Russia wants to delay the elections and
still doesn’t recognize the Ukrainian government as legitimate.
Kramer said Ukrainians had never talked about the federalization of the country until Moscow started talking about it.
He also expressed doubt that Russia was concerned about Ukraine’s
future. According to him, its leadership would like to divide Ukraine so
that Western countries lose interest in it.
