EU may sign political association with Ukraine next week, Merkel says

The EU may sign the political portion of the Association Agreement on March 20-21 at the EU Council meeting, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel a March 12 press conference with Polish President Donald Tusk, as reported by Gazeta Wyborcza. Sanctions against Russia will also be reviewed at the meeting if its government doesn’t halt its takeover of Ukrainian territory and doesn’t agree to create an international group for negotiations, she said. “The contact group hasn’t been created yet so we are supposed to be ready to introduce a second round of sanctions,” she said. “This time, the sanctions should apply to specific people in Russia and Ukraine and cover freezing their assets and canceling their visas to the EU.

The same day, the EU released a draft bill that would cancel the EU visas and freeze the EU-based assets of Russian leaders, reported the Reuters news agency. Should the EU Foreign Ministers Council approve the bill on March 17, the measures would be the first EU sanctions since the end of the Cold War, which will become a sign of serious aggravation in relations between the East and West, Reuters reported.

The G7 nations issued a statement on March 12 calling on the Russian government to halt its efforts changing the legal status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which violates Ukrainian legislation and international law. The annexation of Crimea will be an evident violation of the United Nations Charter; the 1975 Helsinki Accords; the 1994 Budapest Memorandum; and the 1997 Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership Agreement between Russia and Ukraine. “If the Russian Federation takes this step, we will take further measures, both individually and collectively,” the statement said.