President Barack Obama discussed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting in Berlin on the RAID. According to him, the sanctions should continue until, until you have fully implemented the Minsk agreement, writes Reuters.
Obama also expressed hope that US President-elect Donald trump will be able to confront Russia when necessary.
“I hope the President-elect will adopt a similar constructive approach and find areas where we can cooperate with Russia where our interests and values coincide, but also he must be ready to confront Russia where its conduct would be inconsistent with our values and international norms”, — he said.
The day before, Reuters reported, citing sources, that on 18 November Barack Obama will discuss with the leaders of Britain, Germany, Italy and France, the extension of sectoral EU sanctions against Russia, which expires in January 2017. As written, the Agency, the European politicians fear that trump could lift sanctions against Russia. At the meeting, Obama are waiting for clarification on this topic. It was also reported that the situation in Syria is on the agenda of talks.
Donald trump, who won the US presidential election on 8 November, during the election campaign said that he intends to improve relations with Russia.
The European Union has approved the introduction of sectoral sanctions against Russia in 2014. The last time these sanctions were extended on 1 July.
These sanctions include the restriction of access to primary and secondary EU capital market for financial institutions with majority state share, and “daughters” in which these organizations have a majority stake and that are established outside the EU. In addition, restrictions on large Russian energy companies and defense firms. Russia was restricted access to certain strategic importance technologies and services that can be used for the development and production of oil. The sanctions include a ban on exports to Russia dual-use goods for military purposes or for the Russian army.
