Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze has said new international sanctions may be imposed on the Russian Federation in response to its aggression against the Ukrainian naval vessels near the Kerch Strait that took place on Nov. 25.
“[Since] Russia’s aggressive attack in the Black Sea occurred two weeks before a meeting of the European Council and less than a week before a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union, we managed to get a quick reaction of the [EU-member] countries and their clear stances. Upon provision of all the facts by Ukraine, we received political support both from NATO and the EU, as well as from some partner countries about the inadmissibility of violation of international law by the Russian Federation,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said in an exclusive interview with the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
She said that as a result, sanctions on Russia were extended without additional discussions for its failure to fulfill the Minsk agreements on settling the situation in the east of Ukraine and new sanctions were approved in response to the illegitimate elections in Russia-occupied territories.
“I cannot rule out new sanctions on Russia may be imposed. This needs to be done so that the Kremlin would not enjoy impunity for such an audacious step,” the deputy prime minister said.
Also, she said Russia’s failure to recognize the Ukrainian naval seamen as prisoners of war and its unwillingness to engage at least in humanitarian cooperation to allow international organizations to get access to them may encourage European countries to return to discussions about the need for sanctions in response to that attack.
“Of course, we will continue to insist that this behavior cannot go unpunished,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said.
At the same time, she forecasts that Russia will continue to act aggressively. “You know, I’m saddened that in the past four years we have been unable to understand that Russia doesn’t need any reason for its aggressive behavior. By ‘we,’ I mean the whole international community,” the deputy prime minister said.
“No one committed any provocative actions to push the Russian Federation to decide to attack the Crimea, no one committed any provocative actions so that the Russian Federation would decide that it could cut off part of our territories in the east, no one provoked the Russian Federation to carry out cyberattacks or meddle with elections in other countries,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said.
