EU to extend existing Russia sanctions over Ukraine

[webfact]

EU to extend existing Russia sanctions over Ukraine
RAF CASERT, Associated Press
LORNE COOK, Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union extended by six months an existing set of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia separatist officials because of the continued fighting in eastern Ukraine and was planning further action, officials said Thursday.

"We have shown that the EU is ready to take further measures," EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said.

The new radical left-wing government in Greece didn't fall immediately in line with plans for further actions against Russia and insisted a stronger statement against Moscow should be toned down first.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said there was no direct reference to Russian responsibility for the new developments in Ukraine in the joint statement and "the main thing that we wanted removed, and over which there was a two-hour battle, was the proposal for new sanctions."

Instead of mentioning the threat of new economic sanctions, the joint statement only mentioned "any appropriate action" was on the table for the Feb. 12 EU summit of government leaders. It was wording seen as a concession to those seeking to keep dialogue going with Russia.

France and some others said that while firmness was essential, room for negotiation had to be kept open.

Kotzias said Greece believes new sanctions won't bear fruit, and questioned whether the EU wanted to crush Russia, "resulting in pain for the whole of Europe."

"Sanctions haven't worked anywhere, except for countries in the process of collapse," Kotzias said. "Also, when you impose sanctions, you should know what consequences they will have. For example, the sanctions created financial problems for Greece."

Mogherini said that on top of Thursday's decision to extend the first batch of sanctions currently affecting some 130 people, the EU was also preparing a list of new officials to be put on the visa ban and asset freeze program, which could be confirmed as soon as Feb. 9.

"We hope that this can help in putting pressure, in particular on Russia, to make positive steps and prevent the negative steps that we have seen in the recent days," Mogherini said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said "one might reasonably conclude" that the U.S. is considering additional sanctions on Russia, though he said there were no specific plans to announce at this time. He said the White House was in close contact with European counterparts.

Last March, the EU imposed the first visa bans and asset freezes against officials linked to Russia's annexation of southern Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. The measures were due to expire this March, and Thursday's decision will extend them until at least September.

Pressure for more action has been building since last weekend's attacks on Mariupol, when rockets crashed into a densely populated eastern district, killing 30 and wounding several dozen. International observers said a preliminary assessment indicated the attack had been mounted from rebel-held areas.

Since Russia's annexation of Crimea, the EU has steadily increased restrictive measures. In July, the EU imposed economic sanctions which, combined with the drop in oil prices, have stung Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russia has extended its walkout from Europe's human rights watchdog after again losing its right to vote over the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, meeting in the French city of Strasbourg on Wednesday, voted to renew sanctions against Russia at least until April. Russian delegate Alexei Pushkov said Thursday that his delegation's walkout would continue the rest of the year.
___

Julie Pace in Washington, and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-30

[rasmus5150]

Ouch. This is going to get really ugly.

[alant]

Well lets see

"We have shown that the EU is ready to take further measures,"

​Maybe is really "we have shown we can be self hurting arrogant people"!

Why, well the EU look like it has more than a couple of economic issues to address just now. Would it be better to sort out ones own problems before sticking the boot into your neighbour?

[Pakboong]

To the chagrin of the Obama Administration and NATO Russia has not invaded. This latest admission came twice today. Once by inference and the other a direct admission from Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Victor Muzhenko.

During a briefing with General Muzenko he announced that

“To date, we have only the involvement of some members of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and Russian citizens [volunteers] that are part of illegal armed groups [Donbass militia] involved in the fighting. We are not fighting with the regular Russian Army. We have enough forces and means in order to inflict a final defeat even with illegal armed formation present. “-

http://www.globalresearch.ca/kiev-regime-confirms-that-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-is-a-hoax

Edited January 30, 2015 by Pakboong

[mania]

Well lets see

"We have shown that the EU is ready to take further measures,"

​Maybe is really "we have shown we can be self hurting arrogant people"!

Or..."We have shown that the EU is ready to take further orders from the US"

But to be fair they are not the only vassal state.

It is all laughable....

1- if Russia wanted to take by force it would long have since been over. They never needed force as the overwhelming majority voted the change./

What is playing out there now is little more than a play with characters armed by others.

2- The main instigator crying foul & using its leverage on folks like the EU....Yet has its own troops/personnel marked & unmarked in so many countries

instigating change/collapse that behooves their interests that we have lost count.

[PepperMe]

The EU is nothing other than the USAs decoy.

The US are pulling all the strings and need to have Russia completely taken out because it has the power with China to completely destroy the Dollar and the US economy creating a total breakdown of US society.

Russia has a lot more potential allies that dislike the US enough to build a huge coalition against this western aggression.

Europe will be the battleground if a war kicks off and that suits the USA down to the ground (as always).... Not in my back yard eh.

[rickirs]

"Greece believes new sanctions won't bear fruit, and questioned whether the EU wanted to crush Russia"

Looks like Greece is hoping to get Russia to help it bail out of a debt crisis. Greece wants to default on the EU loans but get new investments into its economy. Unfortunately, the EU and the US are crushing Russia economically and the Russian economy is on life support from the Russian treasury. There won't be any rubles going to Greece anytime soon.

[Publicus]

Neither Greece nor Russia will be seeing many euros or dollars any time soon.

Beware of Greeks speaking in favor of Russians for neither bears any gifts.

One has the rubble ruble while the other is headed towards son of dracula drachma.

[Publicus]

The EU is nothing other than the USAs decoy.

The US are pulling all the strings and need to have Russia completely taken out because it has the power with China to completely destroy the Dollar and the US economy creating a total breakdown of US society.

Russia has a lot more potential allies that dislike the US enough to build a huge coalition against this western aggression.

Europe will be the battleground if a war kicks off and that suits the USA down to the ground (as always).... Not in my back yard eh.

The US are pulling all the strings and need to have Russia completely taken out because it has the power with China to completely destroy the Dollar and the US economy creating a total breakdown of US society.

If that were true -- the last part of it in particular -- then I'd 100% advocate and support having Russia "completely taken out". And if the PRChina had such a power I'd say to do the same there too. But the fact is I don't have to do or say anything because if that were true they'd have been "completely taken out" already or since long ago.

Neither government has that Mad Max power, nor do the two together have any such power. The Mad Max power to "completely destroy the Dollar and the US economy" does not exist by any means or by any nation or by any combination of nations. To Mad Max believe it exists is fantasy, delusion, wish and whim.

The RMB (Chinese Yuan) last year accounted for 2.7% of global currency transactions. The ruble doesn't even show on the charts or the graphs.

China's financial markets are shallow, weak, terribly regulated, massively corrupt, trapped in several humongous bubbles. its thin and frail capital markets remain closed to the world. The RMB is anyway barely convertible in global markets. The ruble just began to float but only because of the emergency across Russia, and the yuan remains tightly controlled by the CCP's personal banker, the People's Central Bank of China.

The new government in Greece could not stop the extension of sanctions from March to September when the sanctions will again be reviewed and renewed. And Greece will not stop new sanctions now being considered which will nuke the Russian economy, which is to exclude Russia from the global SWIFT electronic banking system that daily processes $6 billion.

The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to ask member states to implement the SWIFT exclusion against Russia. With the new shelling of Mariupol the EU are now considering this economic and financial nuclear option. Putin needs the heavily fortified city of Mariupol because it is on the narrow land corridor he needs to access Crimea from Russia directly. Reaction to the shelling was so strong Putin had to call off the operation....for now.

Excluding Russia from the SWIFT global system will happen, the question for the Nato allies is when and at what devastating cost to Russia and Putin.

The exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT system may be in the coming new round of EU-Nato sanctions or it may be held until later in the year. Deprived of SWIFT access, Russian banks, government, state corporations etc would need to conduct transactions by fax, telex and the like. Money transfers and payments would revert to 20th century means and methods....the check is in the mail kind of financial operations....where is that FedEx package....

So if the SWIFT exclusion comes in this round then the bout over the Russian economy due to Putin's intrusion into Ukraine will be relatively and mercifully shorter rather than longer. The noise coming out of Russia against being excluded from SWIFT has suddenly become very loud.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Publicus

[F430murci]

This is really, really bad news for Russia. Ruble over 70 with rate at 15%. Sad situation developing.

---------

Bloomberg) -- The ruble weakened beyond 70 against the dollar for the first time since panic swept across Russian financial markets last month after the central bank unexpectedly lowered its key interest rate to 15 percent.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-30/ruble-breaches-70-per-dollar-after-russia-s-surprise-rate-cut

[MZurf]

Well lets see

"We have shown that the EU is ready to take further measures,"

​Maybe is really "we have shown we can be self hurting arrogant people"!

Or..."We have shown that the EU is ready to take further orders from the US"

But to be fair they are not the only vassal state.

It is all laughable....

1- if Russia wanted to take by force it would long have since been over. They never needed force as the overwhelming majority voted the change./

What is playing out there now is little more than a play with characters armed by others.

2- The main instigator crying foul & using its leverage on folks like the EU....Yet has its own troops/personnel marked & unmarked in so many countries

instigating change/collapse that behooves their interests that we have lost count.

Trust a thread regarding Russia's occupation of Crimea and violent interference in Ukraine (including supplying weapons and training to trigger happy scum who shoot down a civilian airliner) to make all the loony conspiracy theorists come storming out of the asylum.

[mania]

2- The main instigator crying foul & using its leverage on folks like the EU....Yet has its own troops/personnel marked & unmarked in so many countries

instigating change/collapse that behooves their interests that we have lost count.

(including supplying weapons and training to trigger happy scum who shoot down a civilian airliner)

Yep #2 in the list...

Edited January 31, 2015 by mania

[MZurf]

2- The main instigator crying foul & using its leverage on folks like the EU....Yet has its own troops/personnel marked & unmarked in so many countries

instigating change/collapse that behooves their interests that we have lost count.

(including supplying weapons and training to trigger happy scum who shoot down a civilian airliner)

Yep #2 in the list...

QED re "loony conspiracy theorists ". Or are you being facetious? Hard to say sometimes when those who should be on really heavy meds start rambling.

[F430murci]

More really bad news.

--------

Inflation in Russia is so crazy that officials are considering price controls on 'essential food products'

More than $30 for a 2 lbs of nuts.

Food prices are out of control in Russia.

So now, Russian officials are even thinking about putting a price cap on "essential food products," reports the Moscow Times.

"We will see how to efficiently place [the restrictions] into law," the deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said.

http://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-russia-may-lead-to-food-price-controls-2015-2