German foreign minister: Ease Russia sanctions ‘step-by-step’

In some EU nations hurt by Russian sanctions, a backlash is growing to extending them in July.

BERLIN – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier believes easing EU sanctions on Russia — provided it fulfils certain conditions — is an important element in the hunt for a solution to the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

“We should be smart when it comes to dealing with these sanctions,” he told foreign journalists in Berlin on Tuesday. “To me, ‘smart’ means that if there is truly substantial progress — and currently there is no such progress, yet — we can consider easing sanctions, step-by-step.”

The EU’s sanctions on Russia’s energy, financial and defense sectors, imposed following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula two years ago, expire in July. Over the next month, the bloc is to decide whether to renew them.

So far, the European Council and the European Commission have stressed that any lifting of sanctions would be tied to Moscow implementing all conditions laid down in the Minsk ceasefire agreed in February 2015, aimed at halting the fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Kiev’s government forces.

“I want to state clearly that our stance vis-à-vis Russia, including economic sanctions, will remain unchanged as long as the Minsk agreements are not fully implemented,” European Council President Donald Tusk said last week on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan.

However, a backlash is growing in some countries — particularly those whose exports have been hit hard, such as Germany itself, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria and Italy — against plans to extend the strict sanctions regime without changes.

“It’s no secret that several countries within the EU are skeptical,” Steinmeier said.

At the same time, those EU countries that feel most vulnerable to what they perceive as Russian aggression, such as the Baltic states and Poland, oppose the idea of lifting sanctions. They have the backing of the United Kingdom.

Steinmeier stressed that while further progress in implementing Minsk is a precondition for lifting certain sanctions, Russia should be given incentives for improving security in eastern Ukraine or cooperating to hold elections in the region.

“I’m not proposing that we say ‘tomorrow we’ll get rid of this or that sanction,'” Steinmeier said, adding that discussing the sanctions instead of just extending them was also important to prevent conflict among the 28 EU countries.

“We have the responsibility to preserve unity in the EU, after the migration debate we had last year which put Europe under immense stress, and … with another stress factor coming up on June 23,” he said, referring to the U.K. referendum on EU membership.

Steinmeier said he expects substantial discussions about Russian sanctions ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers on June 20, adding:  “Whether my proposal becomes reality depends on how talks over the next month with our European partners go. The signals coming from European capitals are very different: The ones from Budapest are different than those from London.”

Steinmeier’s Social Democrats (SPD), currently part of conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ‘grand coalition’ government, have historically pushed for close political ties with Moscow.

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