New US Sanctions May Have ‘Snowball Effect’ on Refugee Influx to EU

A new round of US sanctions against countries, which don't tolerate the US policy toward Syria, may lead to more refugees fleeing to the EU states as humanitarian situation in war-torn country is constantly getting worse, a Syrian politician told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova – A new round of US sanctions against countries that do not agree with the US policy toward Syria may result in more refugees fleeing to Europe amid a worsening humanitarian situation in the country, a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party told Sputnik on Wednesday.

The European Union is in the middle of a large-scale refugee crisis, as thousands of people attempt to cross into the bloc, fleeing violence in their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Syria.

"They [the United States] continue to fuel the tension in the region by imposing a new round of sanctions and penalties aimed at bringing Syria and other states, including Russia, into the compliance with the US geopolitics," Tarek Ahmad said, stressing that the sanctions will result in a "snowball effect" aggravating the migration crisis in Europe.

Earlier this week, the US Departments of State and Commerce have added more Russian companies to US blacklists as part of sanctions against Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis and allegedly guarantee their compliance with the nuclear nonproliferation regime imposed on Iran, Syria and North Korea.

The US State Department singled out over a dozen companies from Russia, China, Sudan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for penalties for allegedly providing Iran, Syria and North Korea with materials necessary to build weapons of mass destruction, cruise and ballistic missiles in violation of nonproliferation acts.

"It is shameful that the United States continue[s] its sanctions policy in the war-torn region when other countries, like Russia, China and a number of the European states, are working on new ways of solving the Syrian crisis,’’ Ahmad stressed.

Moscow has hosted a series of talks with the Arab leaders and senior officials from countries neighboring Syria, as well as negotiations between the Syrian opposition and the government. Russian authorities have expressed willingness to host a third round of negotiations, although a date has not yet been set.

Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, which has displaced over 10 million Syrians.