EU and US are preparing coordinated sanctions to force Putin to the negotiating table - von der Leyen
The European Union is ready to coordinate with the United States on new sanctions against Russia to force the Kremlin to agree to peace talks.
This was stated by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in an interview with Politico, Censor.NET reports .
According to her, the EU is currently working on the 18th package of restrictions. "First of all, we want to impose sanctions on the Russian energy sector and cut off Russia's sources of funding," she stressed.
Von der Leyen noted that Brussels and Washington have already discussed the possibility of simultaneously imposing sanctions if Vladimir Putin does not agree to negotiations.
After meeting with US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, she praised his initiative to increase pressure on Moscow. In particular, this refers to a bipartisan bill that would impose a 500 per cent duty on imports of goods from countries that still buy Russian energy.
At the same time, the European Commission clarified that it is not about including these tariffs in the European sanctions package, but about the general idea of coordinated pressure. "The idea is to coordinate as much as possible. The sanctions cannot be identical," explained Paula Piño, the EC's chief spokesperson.
