Poroshenko calls on G7 to extend anti-Russian sanctions
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has met with the Group of Seven (G7) ambassadors accredited in Ukraine and called on them to extend anti-Russian sanctions due to the failure to meet the Minsk agreements.
"The G7 ambassadors were shown the sheer evidence of violations by the Russian Federation: the presence of Russian troops in the occupied Donbas and continued dispatches of troops and weapons from Russia onto the occupied territories," the presidential press service announced on Monday.
"The president noted that there had been escalation by Russian-backed militants in past days, and Russia is fully responsible for this," it said.
Poroshenko said he considered the sanctions to be an "effective tool" and "motivating factor," which would make Russia to observe the Minsk accords.
The Ukrainian president particularly stressed the importance of deploying an armed OSCE police mission in Donbas, which is critically needed to settle the crisis in a political way, and called on G7 members to back such an initiative by Ukraine.
"We can talk about political leverage only after there are security-related prerequisites, progress in the deployment of the armed OSCE police mission, a sustainable ceasefire, the withdrawal of artillery systems and heavy equipment, the removal of Russia's occupying troops, the release of hostages," he said when speaking about prospects for the peaceful settlement of the situation in the east of Ukraine.
The president also appealed to the G7 ambassadors with a request to exert more pressure on Russia regarding the immediate release of Ukrainian officer and parliamentarian Nadia Savchenko and other prisoners who are illegally kept in that country, as well as the introduction of personal sanctions against those who have fabricated the cases against the Ukrainian detainees in Russia.
