Following the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight in eastern Ukraine, calls are growing in Washington for tough sanctions against Moscow. Many European governments are still hesitating, paving the way for the next big trans-Atlantic row.
Usually, it takes quite an effort for the ambassador of a European Union member state in Washington to raise the attention of the American government. But lately, it hasn't been difficult at all. "The calls and requests just don't stop," said one European diplomat in the US capital.
The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 17 over eastern Ukraine, presumably by pro-Russian separatists, is considered to be a game changer in Washington -- an event of such magnitude that the status quo is no longer possible. All 298 passengers on board the Boeing 777 perished in the crash.
Washington officials have been clear with the Europeans about the lessons it has learned from the disaster, namely that EU members needs to adopt a tougher stance in its dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even prior to the Flight MH 17 disaster, pressure for additional sanctions in Washington had been growing.
- Bloomberg reported that Deputy National Security Advisor Anthony Blinken held a closed-door meeting a week ago with EU ambassadors to inform them of the actions Washington would like to see Europe take.
Washington Doesn't Want Further Excuses.......etc....http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/washington-pressures-european-union-to-apply-deeper-russia-sanctions-a-982271.html
22/7/14
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Security Council condemns downing of Malaysian airliner, calls for international probe
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Several EU foreign ministers said Tuesday the bloc needs to consider an arms embargo against Russia following the downing of a plane over eastern Ukraine, allegedly by pro-Moscow rebels......
ReplyDeleteBritish Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the tragedy "happened in the first place because of Russian support for the rebels" and that foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday had to address that issue. An EU leaders' summit on Wednesday recommended that the 28-member bloc extend its sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian figures for their role in the crisis but the downing of flight MH17 had changed the situation completely, Hammond said.
"The world has changed since then ... and (now) we have to go further," he said as he arrived for the meeting. An arms embargo "is one of the things that we will have to look at," he said, adding that the EU had to send "a very clear message" to Moscow.
Several other EU foreign ministers made the same point, with Lithuania's Linas Linkevicius arguing that the rebels in eastern Ukraine should be treated as terrorists. "We are talking about a terrorist act," Linkevicius said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday had called on the EU to adopt tougher "Phase 3" sanctions and to halt all arms sales to Russia, citing specifically a French contract for two warships worth 1.2 billion euros. "We cannot go on doing business as usual with a country when it's behaving in this way," Cameron said in a statement to parliament................http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/eu-foreign-ministers/1276780.html