Leonid Slutsky: “The EU Council has extended for the 15th time for six months the personal sanctions of the European Union against Russian citizens for the so-called violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Moreover, this was done automatically, without discussion.
But there are reasons for discussion. For example, one of them could be the statements of the adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Oleksiy Arestovich, who recently announced that Ukraine was “off the hook” of the Minsk agreements. The very ones that are aimed at preserving the integrity of the country and ending the conflict in Donbass. And the very ones that the European Union still accuses Russia of failing to fulfill, continuing to pursue the sanctions policy on this basis. Although our country is not and has never been a party to the internal Ukrainian conflict.
Brussels should have set aside double standards and objectively paid attention to its charges in Kiev. Otherwise, it turns out to be a complete absurdity: sanctions for non-compliance with Minsk-2 are still being extended against Russia, and Ukraine is being “removed from the hook”, and declaring this without any hesitation.
As for Crimea, it is high time for the collective West to understand that the reunification of the peninsula with Russia happened at the behest of the Crimeans themselves. With amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the issue of Crimea’s ownership has been completely closed – this is the territory of the Russian Federation. And any sanctions are simply useless here. “
