Kyiv intentionally stalling Minsk Agreements, to which anti-Russian sanctions tied - MP Kosachyov
MOSCOW. Dec 15 (Interfax) - Kyiv is the only beneficiary of the EU's anti-Russian sanctions; it is reluctant to implement the Minsk deal, though Europe is incurring losses, the Chairman of the Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachyov, told Interfax on Friday.
"The Ukrainian president's elation about the EU's 'routine' extension of the anti-Russian sanctions is another proof of who the only beneficiary of this senseless and totally anti-European instrument of economic pressure is," Kosachyov said.
"Kyiv is really happy because it is keeping Europe hostage and doing its best to stall the Minsk Agreements, which are extremely inconvenient for it and to which the Brussels sanctions are tied," he said.
As German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel has put it, the European Union did not find sufficient grounds to lift the anti-Russian sanctions, Kosachyov said.
"This is quite logical: Ukraine did not raise a finger to implement the provisions of the Minsk roadmap," he said.
He referred to European studies cited by the Washington Post and said that almost 40% of losses incurred by the West from those sanctions fell on Germany.
"This is the price of the shortsightedness and political mistakes that European and, especially, German business has been paying. I am wondering if they eventually will bill those who have made those destructive decisions," Kosachyov said.