Shorouk Express
The debates come several days after Ukraine’s top sanctions official, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, told POLITICO he believed a return to Western countries doing business with Moscow was just “a matter of time,” but only once peace is established and guaranteed.
According to him, existing restrictions on the country’s energy exports had to be seen as “leverage” in exchange for concrete action on security and justice, such as compensation for Ukraine.
But he cautioned Europe against becoming dependent again on Russian resources.
“Russia has a lot of potential, especially energy resources,” he said, hinting third countries could try to harness them again. “Maybe not, and hopefully not, to the same extent — hopefully not ever finding themselves in the position of total dependence on Russian energy of any kind.”
Speaking later on Monday, Vlasiuk added that sanctions were worth keeping in place while Russia remains a serious threat to the continent. “Another way to look at it is that energy sanctions provide Europe with more time to reduce dependencies on Russia and facilitate long-term deterrence, strengthening Europe’s ability to protect itself and values.”
At the same time, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would hold talks over the phone with Trump on Tuesday. He declined to comment on the agenda.
The EU has indefinitely shelved a long-awaited strategy to end its remaining imports of Russian oil, gas and nuclear technology, as the bloc adopts a wait-and-see approach to peace talks in Ukraine. Still, Jørgensen on Monday insisted he would present the plan “quite soon.”
“We are really concerned about possible lifting [of] energy sanctions on Russia,” said Svitlana Romanko, director of Ukrainian advocacy organization Razom We Stand. “Lifting of those sanctions now would be like giving a pyromaniac matches and expecting them not to start fires.”
