Updated on 08:58 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - The European Union has delayed the implementation of a new round of sanctions against Russia pending talks on their possible suspension if the current ceasefire in eastern Ukraine holds, Reuters reported Monday.
According to Reuters, EU envoys are due to meet later on Monday in Brussels to decide "whether the sanctions should be first implemented and then suspended or whether they should not be implemented at all at this stage."
Reuters has earlier reported that the EU agreed in principle last week a new set of sanctions against Russia over its alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis.
The new sanctions list reportedly includes Russia’s Rosneft, Gazpromneft and Transneft energy firms, as well as state-run companies with a turnover of more than $27 billion annually.
The European Union and the United States have already imposed several rounds of economic sanctions over Moscow’s alleged participation in the Ukrainian conflict. The Russian side reacted by introducing a year-long ban on certain food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway.
At the EU Summit held in Brussels on August 30, European leaders urged the European Commission to create proposals for more sanctions against Russia within one week. However, the opinion of the EU member states on sanctions remained divided and the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico called on the European Union to put off imposing new sanctions against Russia.
On September 5, the representatives of Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk agreed to a ceasefire at the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation in Minsk.
On September 7, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the European Union is ready to review new possible sanctions if a truce between the Kiev government and independence fighters in southeastern Ukraine holds.
