By Laurence Norman And Anton Troianovski
BRUSSELS--European leaders appear ready to order new sanctions
against Russia this weekend after accusations that Moscow has
scaled up its military intervention in Ukraine.
The European Union's leaders originally were to just hold a
brief discussion on Ukraine on Saturday evening at a Brussels
summit to pick the EU's new foreign policy chief and fill another
top job. However, the mood in the bloc shifted over the last 48
hours following western accusations that Russia has sent hundreds
of troops into Ukraine along with equipment to bolster pro-Moscow
rebels in eastern Ukraine.
At an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Milan on Friday, several
ministers accused Russia of staging an invasion of Ukraine.
This is "the second Russian invasion of Ukraine within the
year," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said it is time
for the EU to consider offering military support to Ukraine in
addition to stepping up sanctions against Moscow. Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko, who will join Saturday's EU leaders
meeting, has been pleading for western military assistance. Ukraine
isn't a member of the EU.
"We have to consider all possible support to the Ukrainian
government because they are facing incursion, invasion, aggression
from outside," Mr. Linkevicius said.
In Germany, where officials had been skeptical of additional
sanctions for fear of derailing talks between Moscow and Kiev, the
tone shifted markedly in recent days. A renewed diplomatic push led
by Berlin, including a two-hour meeting between Russian President
Vladimir Putin and Mr. Poroshenko in Belarus, appears to have
failed, officials acknowledged.
Last Saturday, on a visit to Kiev, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel said new sanctions against Russia weren't on her agenda. But
Thursday, she said European leaders would need to consider new
measures in Brussels.
On Friday, Ms. Merkel's foreign minister, Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, warned the situation was increasingly spiraling out of
control, with the risk of a direct military confrontation between
Russia and Ukraine increasing.
"All the hopes that we had that the conversation between
President Poroshenko and President Putin would help calm the
situation have been dashed," he said.
In the German parliament, support built for sanctions. Ms.
Merkel's conservative bloc issued a statement Friday from Deputy
Chairman Andreas Schockenhoff, describing Russian troops entering
Ukraine as a "warlike act."
"I think it came a little bit as a shock that at the very moment
Putin shook hands with Poroshenko [in Minsk], he moved toward more
open Russian direct involvement in Ukraine," said Ulrich Speck,
visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. He said this may be the end of
the "illusion" that diplomacy can work.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Friday confirmed that
"if Russia doesn't change its behavior, it's probable that
sanctions will be reinforced."
The U.S. and other Western allies have called on Paris to call
off its plans to deliver the first of two warships to Russia in the
fall. But France has refused to cancel the contract, saying such a
move would be too costly. On Friday, Mr. Fabius didn't address the
matter during his televised remarks.
Meanwhile, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso
spoke with Mr. Putin on Friday in what a spokeswoman called a "very
frank" conversation.
On Thursday, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization asserted
that well over 1,000 Russian troops are operating in eastern
Ukraine, deployed to prevent the collapse of Russian separatists
after Ukrainian forces were closing in.
The Kremlin denies that any Russian troops have been deployed in
Ukraine and say the handful that Kiev has captured were there 'by
accident' and should be returned.
EU diplomats said it was unlikely that the leaders will decide
on specific sanctions measures at Saturday's meeting. Instead, said
a number of officials, they are likely to order Brussels officials
to draw up further steps in the coming days.
In July, the EU agreed for the first time on broad sanctions
against Russia's economy, the sharpest measures yet since Moscow
annexed Crimea in March. At the time, the bloc said the measures
could be scaled up or down according to developments.
July's sanctions included a ban on purchasing newly issued bonds
and shares in five Russian majority state-owned banks. The EU
agreed on an arms embargo and a ban on the sale of dual-use goods
to military end-users in Russia. The bloc also agreed to stop
exports of high-end technology to be used in deep-water oil
exploration and production.
Still, the measures included a number of exemptions, including
permitting the completion of defense contracts already signed, like
France's sale of the Mistral warship.
At present, there are no detailed options for further steps,
officials said Friday. However the sanctions could be expanded to
include additional Russian banks, other high-tech equipment for the
energy sector or to further stem exports of dual use goods. EU
officials said there is little appetite now for canceling existing
defense contracts or curtailing EU energy imports from Russia.
U.K. officials said Friday the EU should take steps to further
align the bloc's sanctions with U.S. restrictions, including on
defense exports and sales of high-end technology.
"I think we are far from the ceiling of the sanctions that the
EU could put in place," said one official.
Since July's sanctions steps, several EU leaders have questioned
the wisdom of economic restrictions, including the Slovak and
Hungarian prime ministers. On Friday, officials from both countries
said that given Russia's steps in recent days, neither government
is likely to block further EU steps.
After last month's EU sanctions, Russia imposed a ban on many EU
and U.S. agricultural products.
Arriving at Friday's meeting in Milan, Polish Foreign Minister
Radoslaw Sikorski handed out Polish apples--banned by Moscow--to
reporters.
"President Putin says they are poisonous but I assure you they
are very good," Mr. Sikorski said.
Nicholas Winning in London,
Greg White
in Moscow and Naftali Bendavid in Brussels contributed to this
article.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com and Anton
Troianovski at anton.troianovski@wsj.com