By Laurence Norman in Brussels and Juris Ka a in Riga
European Union governments began two weeks of debate on the
bloc's policy toward Russia and Ukraine on Friday, with an apparent
consensus emerging that the EU would stick to its sanctions regime
against Moscow for now.
Foreign ministers are meeting Friday and Saturday in the Latvian
capital Riga for an informal summit and will then gather in
Brussels on March 16; EU leaders will discuss the situation at a
summit on March 19-20.
On their way into the meeting, most foreign ministers
acknowledged that fighting had calmed across much of eastern
Ukraine in recent days following the Feb. 12 cease-fire agreement,
but remained cautious about the prospects for lasting peace.
"Concerning the situation in eastern Ukraine, we are not where
we would like to be," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier.
He said over the past few days there had been a noticeable
reduction in violence and cease-fire violations but "we are not yet
in a phase of a really sustainable cease-fire. Further steps are
needed, for instance, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry, the
exchange of hostages."
Russia denies supplying and financing the separatists in Ukraine
and denies it has sent in troops to support them.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe said Wednesday that fighting between Ukrainian government
forces and Russia-backed militants continued to subside but they
haven't been able to verify the withdrawal of heavy weapons from
the front lines. Mr. Steinmeier said other EU member countries
needed to help increase the OSCE's budget.
Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo said he
would travel to Moscow on Monday and Tuesday to meet his Russian
counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. If the cease-fire doesn't hold, he said
the EU would have to look at a Plan B, including fresh measures to
pressure Russia, but now wasn't the right moment to do so.
"We have to give an opportunity to peace," he said.
The EU has imposed targeted sanctions on dozens of Russian and
separatist officials and entities and last summer placed broader
restrictions on its defense, energy and financial ties with Russia.
The latter measures expire in July. The backing of all 28 member
states is needed to renew them
However, the EU has struggled to maintain unity on the situation
in Ukraine and Russia's role in the crisis.
Some countries such Lithuania, Poland and the U.K. have taken a
more hawkish stance to further increase pressure on Russia, while
others governments from Greece, Hungary and elsewhere have
criticized the sanctions against Moscow as offering no real
solution.
Mr. Steinmeier said the issue of the EU's sanctions on Russia
wasn't on the agenda of the Riga meeting, but could be
discussed.
"For me, the German position it is clear," he said.
"Accelerating the implementation (of Minsk) is now central, not so
much the question of further sanctions."
The EU's divisions have become more pronounced in recent weeks.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin made a high-profile trip to
Hungary last month and on Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Matteo
Renzi made an official visit to Moscow to meet Mr. Putin, the first
leader of a large European country to do so since Russia annexed
Crimea a year ago.
The EU has come in for criticism from some in Washington too. A
group of senior U.S. lawmakers called on the Obama administration
this week to provide lethal aid to Ukraine to counter Russia's
involvements. They slammed the "lack of clarity" among Western
countries to Russia's actions.
On Friday, the British government said it would provide more
nonlethal military equipment to Ukraine over the coming weeks.
"Our overall aim is to strengthen the defensive capability of
the Ukrainian armed forces and build the resilience that they
need," U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said in a statement.
The consignment of equipment follows Prime Minister David Cameron's
announcement last week that Britain will send military personnel to
Ukraine to help train its armed forces.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini pushed back against
suggestions the EU had done too little on Ukraine.
On her way into the meeting in Riga, she said the bloc was
assisting Ukrainian authorities across a range of areas and was
working to help ensure that the Minsk deal was implemented. She
said the EU will "stay united for sure" over its sanctions
regime.
Earlier Friday in Riga, Ms. Mogherini said the bloc will also
begin to think about its longer-term relationship with Russia.
"This is a question to which at some point we will have to
answer together, keeping the same level of unity within [the]
European Union that we have managed to keep, and will manage to
keep both on the side of the sanctions and the side of the support
to Ukraine," she said.
The crisis in Libya is also on the agenda at the Riga meeting.
United Nations special envoy Bernardino León, who is holding peace
talks in Rabat, Morocco, will speak to the foreign ministers about
the situation in the North African country on Friday.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said the EU may need
to set up a fresh support mission to help Libyan authorities if a
national unity government of some kind can be formed.
Ms. Mogherini said the bloc would discuss what "concrete steps"
it could take to support a political solution and help rebuild the
country. She said ministers would return to this theme on March
16.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com