BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – According to the official, there are fewer and fewer "diehard" politicians who speak of tightening the sanctions.
"There is a gradual rise of awareness of the futility of the current EU policy of maintaining tensions with Russia, and of the deadlock that the sanctions policy has led to. The tipping point is close. It won’t be long now before a critical mass is there," Chizhov said in an interview.
Relations between the European Union and Russia have become hostage to linking of sanctions to the implementation of Minsk agreements, which was artificially imposed by the bloc, he said.
"They made up this linkage between the economic restrictive measures and the implementation of the Minsk Agreements as an element for their self-justification. After all, this linkage was invented not from the very beginning, but only when the sanctions were already in place. This linkage was a response to the sentiments that had already emerged by that time in favour of rolling back or lifting the restrictive measures."
Since 2014, relations between Russia and the European Union and the United States, deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia on the pretext of its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, which Moscow has repeatedly denied. In response to the restrictive measures, Russia has imposed a food embargo on some products originating in countries that have targeted it with sanctions.
Chizhov told Sputnik he saw improvement in the EU leadership's understanding of the real situation in Ukraine's Donbass region given the recent surge of military activities.
"Judging by the reaction both in the European Union and in the United States to the latest surge of military activities in the Donbass region, I can say that some sobering and understanding of the real situation is gradually coming."
The European Union’s work with Kiev to make the Ukrainian authorities implement Minsk agreements has proven insignificant so far, Chizhov added.
"I have been asking EU officials what else Kiev should do to sabotage these agreements for them to start thinking about sanctioning Kiev. I did not get any answer. Their answer to any mentioning of the role of the Ukrainian authorities in this matter is the same: ‘We are working with Kiev.’ This, I must admit, is not far from the truth, but the effect of this work is hardly significant."
