LUXEMBOURG, October 20 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union is not going to reverse its sanction policy in relation to Russia, Lithuanian Prime Minister Linas Antanas Linkevicius said Monday.
"Now it will not be discussed. I believe we will keep the same position. We will not lift any sanctions," the diplomat told reporters before the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg.
"Any further steps are not being discussed but it is not excluded that in the course of the events if we still will be witnessing this deterioration and no political will or contradiction with the statements and what's going on the ground … we have to take decisions and technically we should need a consensus so I cannot guarantee what will go but I personally believe we have to extend further sanctions and pressure on the Russian government in order to make some difference," Linkevicius said.
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated as the European Union, the United States and their partners have repeatedly accused Russia of involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.
Since Crimea's reunification with Russia in March, Western countries have introduced several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it is not involved in the Ukrainian crisis, referred to the language of sanctions "counterproductive," and said that such measures "threaten international peace and stability."
