European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says he sees no argument for lifting sanctions against Russia, according to Euronews.
”Up until now, I have seen no argument for the sanctions against Russia being immediately lifted,” Juncker said in an interview with Euronews.
”I would like to have an agreement with Russia that goes beyond the ordinary framework, bearing in mind that without Russia, there is no security architecture in Europe,” he said adding that President Obama`s assessment of Russia as ”a regional power” was, in his opinion, ”a big error.”
When asked whether European leaders would maintain sanctions against Moscow given that Donald Trump would come to power in a few months, Juncker said the EU was not dependent on U.S. foreign policy.
”The U.S. will do what it wants to do and Europeans will have their own interests within their own scope to manage,” he said.
Earlier, on June 21 the European Union at the level of permanent representatives of member states to the EU (COREPER) agreed on prolonging economic sanctions against Russia until January 31, 2017, in the light of Russia`s ”destabilizing” actions in Ukraine.
See also: EU set to extend Russia sanctions, but may be harder when Trump president
