European Lawmaker Speaks Against 'Vicious Circle' of Anti-Russian Sanctions

The anti-Russian sanctions have led relations between the European Union and Russia "to the edge of a huge crisis" but did not help to stop the almost year-long armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, a member of the European Parliament said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — Cypriot lawmaker called on the European Union to end anti-Russian sanctions as "neither side has profited" from the resulting tension.

In March 2014, the United States, the European Union and a number of their allies imposed sanctions on Russia over the country's alleged role in the ongoing internal crisis in Ukraine.

"It is my position that no additional sanctions should be imposed because no positive outcome can result from them. On the contrary, I am afraid that we run the risk of being trapped into a vicious circle, without a way out," Cypriot lawmaker Eleni Theocharous told Sputnik Thursday.

"I strongly believe that sanctions against Russia cannot solve the Ukrainian issue, they will seriously enhance the tension and worsen the existing problems between Brussels and Moscow," Theocharous said.

The parliamentarian also urged Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to stick to the ceasefire deal which the conflicting sides signed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk last month.