EU FMs discuss Ukraine aid, anti-Russian sanctions in Luxembourg - French FM

BRUSSELS. Oct 14 (Interfax) - The foreign ministers of European Union countries have met in Luxembourg to spell out details of assistance for Ukraine in terms of finance, training its military and the application of sanctions towards Russia, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

"First of all, in terms of finance, because we have advanced on the question of a loan we are going to grant Ukraine, which will be based on the extraordinary revenues from Russian frozen assets," Barrot told journalists before a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, adding that he himself intended to insist on the relevant decision.

This money could help Ukraine "strengthen its military capabilities" and at the same time will "strengthen the European defense industrial and technological base," he said.

The assistance will continue to be provided in the sphere of military training with an extension of the mandate of the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM), which trained 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers, including in France, which assumed the obligation to train a brigade of 2,300 servicemen, the minister said.

The establishment of a new sanctions regime against Russia "for destabilizing activity against the EU and its member states" is welcome, he said. In his view, "this regime will allow sanctions to be determined and affect the persons and organizations" which the EU deems culpable for all sorts of hybrid threats in "Europe, in France, and also in Africa," he said.