MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – Some EU countries, led by Finland, advocated the delay of imposing new sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, Wall Street Journal has reported.
Earlier on Monday, Financial Times reporter Peter Spiegel also claimed that Finland delayed adoption of new sanctions against Russia.
“The Finland objection to EU sanctions on Russia is not on substance, but rather clarifying they can be suspended if ceasefire takes hold,” Spiegel wrote on his Twitter web page.
The European Union officially adopted on September 8 a new round of sanctions against Russia over its alleged participation in “destabilizing eastern Ukraine.”
According to the document, the new measures will come into force in the next few days pending the assessment of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the peace plan in Ukraine.
The European Union and the United States have already imposed several rounds of economic sanctions over Moscow’s alleged participation in the Ukrainian conflict. The Russian side reacted by introducing a year-long ban on certain food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway.
At the EU Summit held in Brussels on August 30, European leaders urged the European Commission to create proposals for more sanctions against Russia within one week. However, the opinion of the EU member states on sanctions remained divided and the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico called on the European Union to put off imposing new sanctions against Russia.
