You're reading: Latvian foreign minister: Kharkiv, Odesa unrest could cause more sanctions against Russia

Any attempts to cause unrest in Kharkiv and Odesa, if any, may result in further anti-Russian sanctions, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics has said.

“If there are attempts to somehow create unrest in these cities (Kharkiv and Odesa), it may become one of the issues that we could discuss. At the moment, the situation is very fragile. The discussion about what to do next in the EU relations with Russia will be held at the EU Council meeting in late March. Until then, broad consultation will take place,” Rinkevics said after the informal meeting of foreign ministers of the European Union on Saturday in Riga.

He noted that the situation in Ukraine has slightly improved since the time the agreements were reached on February 12.

The Latvian minister stressed that the attacks in Kharkiv and Odesa certainly deserve condemnation. The EU hopes that investigators will establish the organizers of these attacks. Rinkevics does not link them to the issue of the implementation of the Minsk agreements, but believes that they can be considered in the context of destabilization.