EU sanctions for Ukrainian officials should be warning to others - deputy head of EU Delegation to Russia
ST. PETERSBURG. Feb 25 (Interfax) - The European Union's sanctions against some Ukrainian officials apparently responsible for violating human rights and the loss of life in Ukraine should serve as a signal to those who would try to act in such a way in the future, Deputy Head of the Delegation of the EU to Russia Sven-Olov Carlsson said.
Speaking to journalists in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Carlsson said that all EU member-states share the view that what has recently happened in Ukraine is unacceptable, and sanctions are among the instruments that the EU has to react to them and affect the resolution of the complicated situation.
It is important for the EU to send a signal to the rest of officials to ensure that such conduct is deemed unacceptable and that others should not try to act in the same way, Carlsson said.
As long as the situation in Ukraine changes, sanctions might be lifted from particular officials, he said.
It was reported earlier that a special commission instructed by the EU Foreign Affairs Council following its extraordinary session was working on a list of Ukrainians who could be subjected to sanctions for violating human rights during the recent riots in Kyiv.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels on Monday, European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said this work was continuing and had not yet been finished. Asked whether former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych would be put on this list, Bailly replied that there can be no automatism in this process.