Increasingly divided EU ministers failed to issue a specific threat of further economic sanctions against Russia on Thursday, despite fears that the conflict in eastern Ukraine was entering a dangerous new phase.
European foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Brussels to determine how to respond to the collapse of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, fearing that this weekend's bombardment of the port city of Mariupol marked a dramatic escalation of the fighting.
However, diplomats in Brussels said it was increasingly difficult to preserve a united front among the 28 members of the EU, partly because of the recent election of a leftwing government in Greece which has vowed to act as a bridge between Europe and Russia.
In a weak final statement, the ministers simply instructed the European Commission to undertake further preparatory work on loosely defined "appropriate action". No deadline was given for this work to be completed.
Earlier in the day, some nations had pushed for a more specific threat of "restrictive measures" against Russia - diplomatic code for sanctions - but the 28 nations were unable to agree on this.
Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign affairs chief, said European leaders would have a final say on how to interpret "appropriate action" against Moscow at a summit on February 12.
The difficulty in issuing a clear threat to Russia highlights the EU's faultlines. Arriving at the meeting, Nikos Kotzias, the new Greek foreign minister, said Athens would work to prevent a "rift between the European Union and Russia". His government, which only came to power this week, had already expressed a "general reservation" towards EU measures aimed at expanding sanctions against Moscow.
Linas Linkevicius, Lithuania's foreign minister, slammed this weekend's attack on Mariupol by pro-Russian rebels as "terrorism" that merited a direct response by the EU, such as further financial restrictions on Russia.
"How many people should be killed before we say 'je suis Ukrainien'?" he asked, in reference to the "Je suis Charlie" placards that became common in the aftermath of this month's shooting at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper in Paris.
EU sanctions imposed last year have targeted Russia's energy, defence and banking sectors and have been seen as a critical factor in crippling Moscow's economy, which has been compounded by the collapsing oil price. Hawkish countries in the EU want to limit further Russia's access to international capital markets because of the latest flare-up.
Countries such as Britain, Sweden, Poland, Romania and the Baltic states also want a more specific timeframe for the imposition of more economic sanctions. However, diplomats from this hardline camp say France, Italy and, to a lesser extent, Germany are guarded about a tough response to Russia.
Speaking ahead of Thursday's meeting, Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's economy minister, said it was too early "at the present time" to speak about further sanctions.
Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine's foreign minister, said he understood the difficulty for some countries but that the EU needed to show it was willing to defend the rule of law. "At the end of the day, this is not just about Donbass itself or Ukraine . . . we need to have mechanisms to respect the rules," he said.
In a largely symbolic move, the EU ministers agreed to prolong until September the blacklisting of Russians and Ukrainians seen as instigating the conflict. Asset freezes and travel bans against them had been due to expire in March.
Diplomats argue that the internal EU friction will make the broader sanctions against whole sectors of the Russian economy far harder to renew when they expire in July.
(Financial Times)
