"Indeed there are some Member states, who believe that the question of roll over of sanctions [cannot] be the issue of the automatic technical written procedure, that there has to be a clear recommendation from German [Chancellor] and president of France, because they are (in) the Normandy format and Minsk agreements were born within the framework of Normandy format," the source told reporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel could recommend to extend anti-Russia sanctions at an EU summit this week, a senior European Union official told Sputnik.
"There has to be a clear recommendation from the German chancellor and president of France, because they are [in] the Normandy format and Minsk agreements were born within the framework of Normandy format. I expect the recommendation from both Merkel and Macron to roll over the sanctions," the official said Wednesday.
The two leaders' recommendation would prompt European Council President Donald Tusk to inform other EU leaders to "kick-start the written procedure."
"So, actually it will be a political decision, and then we need to have a legal process, a technical one," the official said.
In March 2015, the European Council agreed to link the duration of the sanctions to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements on the ceasefire in Donbas. In December 2016, the Council of the European Union prolonged the economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy until July 31, 2017.
Moscow has repeatedly claimed it was counterproductive to correlate the anti-Russia sanctions with the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements as Russia was not a party to the conflict between Kiev forces and local residents, who had refused to recognize the government installed in the country in 2014 following what many consider to be a coup.
At the same time, Russia has brokered this ceasefire, alongside France, Germany and Ukraine, making up the so-called Normandy Four group on the conflict settlement.
