Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for the immediate imposition of new EU sanctions against Russia, the AP news agency has reported.
“In the light of the existing situation…we now call for the sanctions to be published. I hope that we will soon decide on that,” Merkel told German lawmakers on Sept. 10.
While the EU has already adopted fresh sanctions against Russia, they will only go into force once they are published in the Official Journal of the EU.
Merkel said the sanctions would only be removed if the twelve points of the ceasefire agreement for eastern Ukraine were to be fulfilled.
“I would add that, if the 12 points are really fulfilled substantially, we will be the first to lift the new sanctions,” Merkel added. “They are not an end in themselves — they are only ever imposed if they are unavoidable.”
A ceasefire agreement took effect Sept. 5, and Merkel told Germany’s parliament that “there is not a 100 percent ceasefire, but in any case an improvement” in the situation on the ground. But she said that there was “a lack of clarity on the fulfillment” of many other points of the peace plans.
