Without Reforms in Ukraine Anti-Russian Sanctions Senseless

Ukraine’s failure to implement its part of the Minsk peace accords could prod the EU to reconsider the sanctions it imposed on Russia in 2014, Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen warned on Friday.

"If Ukraine doesn't come through with the reforms linked to the Minsk peace process, it will be very difficult for Europe to continue united in support for sanctions against Russia," Kristian Jensen told Politiken.

“Ukraine has a deadline. They need to push those reforms now, they can't wait,” he added.

Earlier it was reported that the Ukrainian parliament was considering a motion to scrap visa-free travel with Russia.

Mr. Jensen’s warning was not lost of the head of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov.

“The Danish Foreign Minister said what Berlin is afraid to say: if Kiev does not start implementing Minsk-2, the EU countries will lift their sanctions against Russia,” Pushkov wrote on his Twitter account on Saturday

Signed by Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany last February, the Minsk accord lays out 13 steps to secure the end of the armed conflict in Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, which broke out in 2014, after people in the regions refused to accept the forceful change of power in Kiev.

The conflict has resulted in over 9,000 deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people, according to the UN.