Zelenskyy urges partners not to ease Russia sanctions, adopt Graham bill on new restrictions
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on international partners not to lift sanctions against Russia and to introduce new, stronger restrictions, particularly targeting Russian ballistic missile production and the financial sector, as well as to adopt the sanctions bill introduced by late U.S.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has warned that Europe risks playing into Russia's hands by lifting sanctions against Russian regime-linked oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman. Sybiha argued that extending individual sanctions for 12 months instead of the current 6 months would demonstrate that Europe is not intimidated by Russia's aggression and reckless escalation.
The committee representing EU foreign ministers agreed to extend the sanctions regime by seven days, until midnight on Tuesday, September 22, to give member states time to study proposals for extending the sanctions further. However, the EU countries struggled to reach a consensus on extending one of the anti-Russian sanctions programs, with Slovakia demanding the removal of Usmanov and Fridman from the sanctions list while France proposed only removing Usmanov.
Most other countries were unwilling to consider removing anyone from the sanctions list. The discussion also centered on whether to extend the measures for six months or 12 months, with Slovakia hesitant to support the longer term.
Written by urgent.news from Interfax-Ukraine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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