eu foreign ministers are meeting to
discuss whether to slap
fresh sanctions on russia over the
jailing of opposition leader alexei
navoni
the eu's push to punish the kremlin
follows what some called a disastrous
trip to moscow earlier this month
by the bloc's foreign policy chief josep
the eu's top diplomat insisted he had to
find out
face to face the kremlin's views on
relations with the bloc
the european union at this stage is an
unreliable partner
russia expelled three eu diplomats while
burrell was there
which he admits he only learned from
social media
after heavy criticism for his passive
performance next to lavrov's laceration
of the eu
burrell says he's now convinced russian
authorities
are not interested in rapprochement the
answer
has been clear no they are not
that led burrell to promise concrete
proposals on tougher measures
it will be for the member states to
decide the next step
but yes this could include sanctions
the eu already has a wide range of
sanctions on russian individuals and
entities related for example to moscow's
illegal 2014
annexation of crimea for supporting
separatist activities in eastern ukraine
and for involvement in the august
poisoning of alexi navalny
but the subsequent jailing of navalny
after his return to russia
as well as police brutality against
pro-navalny protesters
has eu governments pressing for harsher
measures now
lithuania has led that call those should
be
personal sanctions those should be
sanctions
on the entities which have to do with
repressions
against opposition a letter signed by
almost 170
politicians academics and activists this
week urges
eu leaders to use the new human rights
sanctions mechanism known as the
european magnitsky act
to target the nordstream 2 pipeline
project and
to include the russian president's
wealthy inner circle
that last option says former eu diplomat
david stulik
would be a game changer russia might
then realize that
the eu also has these red lines and
cannot be pushed beyond them and that
would be a kind of a surprise for
russians because
finally they would see that their bluff
policy
doesn't work anymore it's unclear how
close to the kremlin penalties will come
this time around eu officials say it's
hard to prove oligarchs personally
finance human rights abuses
russia is threatening to cut ties with
the eu if
any new sanctions go forward with lavrov
warning
russia wants peace but is prepared for
war
well ahead of the eu foreign ministers
meeting in brussels german foreign
minister heiko maas gave his backing to
new russia sanctions
here in brussels today we will discuss
whether to order the imposition of new
sanctions on russia
in particular as a result of the
conviction of alexei navalny
and the fact that he has to serve his
sentence in a penal colony
i am in favor of ordering the
preparation of additional sanctions
listing specific individuals
let's bring in our brussels bureau chief
alexandra fundament hi alexandra
what kind of measures are we likely to
see here and against who
the european union is likely to impose
travel bans
and asset freezes against individuals
that are believed to be directly
involved in
alexey navalny's conviction and
incarceration and the eu is also
expected to
use its new sanctions regime that allows
the bloc to go
after human rights abusers so we
probably talking about
people in judiciary prosecutors judges
for the european union it is important
to make sure
that they have a clear evidence that
those individuals were directly
responsible
for alexei navalny's incarceration so
that sanctions against them
cannot be overturned in courts but these
sanctions would require a unanimous a
unanimous support
is that likely yes
it seems that all ministers all member
states are
on board even russia-friendly countries
like for example hungary germany as we
just heard is also
supporting further sanctions
even though the german foreign minister
said that
germany still still would like to you
know to
try ways to to make it possible to work
with russia on international
issues so dealing with russia is
definitely a balancing act
let's have a listen to what the german
foreign minister had
to say
at the same time we have to look for
ways to maintain a dialogue with moscow
we need russia to solve many
international conflicts
so one question that will have to occupy
us is
how is it possible to maintain a
constructive dialogue with russia
even though relations between the eu and
russia are certainly
at an all-time low at the moment
alexander we heard it there maintain
dialogue but russia is threatening to
break off ties with the eu
is that a threat that brussels needs to
take seriously
well i think that brussels takes it
seriously but brussels also
knows that russia cannot be actually
interested really seriously interested
in breaking off ties with the european
union
and russia's foreign minister lavrov has
already softened his
tone saying that sanctions won't prevent
russia from
deepening investment partnerships with
eu member
states eu member states account
for more than 40 percent of russia's
trade
turnout and of course it's possible that
russia could decide to break off ties
with the eu institutions but
how can you maintain good relations with
eu member states if you don't have
any relations with the european union
with the european commission for example
so
we will have to wait and see how russia
is really going to react
to those expected new sanctions
our brussels bureau chief alexandre
fundament reporting on the very latest
there thank you so much
you