EU says no plans to lift sanctions against Russian Federation

The European Union (EU) will not lift sanctions against Russia, even if the United States does so. European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters in Brussels on February 18.

"Given the policy of the new US administration, the EU should take matters of its own security into its own hands, this also applies to sanctions policy," he said.

He also added that work is already underway on the 16th package of sanctions against Russia.

Earlier, on February 16, Kremlin official Dmitry Peskov said that the US sanctions against the Russian leadership may not have a significant impact on the negotiations between Moscow and Washington, as such measures can be quickly lifted if desired.

The foreign ministries of the G7 countries adopted a communiqué on the topic of imposing new sanctions against Russia on February 15. Restrictions were linked to the negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. The foreign ministers said in the document that Russia should allegedly guarantee Ukraine 's long-term security.

On 12 February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew attention to the fact that European countries were preparing new sanctions amid the difficult situation in their own economies.