Proof would prompt Lithuania to raise EU sanction issue over violations in Crimea

  • 2021-02-24
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Evidence would prompt Lithuania to raise the issue of EU sanctions over human rights violations in Crimea, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says.

"Lithuania could offer support for possible European sanctions whenever Ukraine is ready to share evidence, packages of people who have abused human rights in the currently occupied territories of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine," he told a press conference in Kiev following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterparts Dmytro Kuleba.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed to add four high-ranking Russian officials to the sanction list as they are considered responsible for the imprisonment of the Kremlin's critic Alexey Navalny and a crackdown on his supporters.

Back in October, the block sanctioned six officials linked to Navalny's poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent last year.

Earlier, the EU imposed sanctions for Russia several times in response to its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the incitement of war in Eastern Ukraine.

During their meeting, Landsbergis and Kuleba discussed pandemic management issues, vaccination, Ukraine's European integration and the situation in Belarus and Russia.