Brussels, March 14 (CTK correspondent) – The Czech Republic would support possible proposals for extending the EU sanctions to apply to the Russians citizens who assist in the persecution of the imprisoned Ukrainian pilot Nadyia Savchenko, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said yesterday.
Savchenko’s case is “abhorrent and prefabricated,” Zaoralek (Social Democrats, CSSD) said on arriving in Brussels to attend a meeting of the EU countries’ foreign ministers.
“I am prepared to support possible proposals since we should be able to do more in this case than debating it only,” he added.
The world must not let the woman who is on hunger strike in prison die eventually, he noted.
Some EU member states indicated before yesterday’s meeting of the foreign ministers that the possibility to freeze the property of the judges and state attorneys connected with the Savchenko case and their ban on entering the EU should be taken into consideration at least.
Last week, several dozen MEPs asked the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, to impose sanctions in connection with the Savchenko case.
Not only the EU as one whole, but also some particular countries, such as Germany and the United States, demand Savchenko’s release from prison.
The EU foreign ministers are to discuss the situation of Savchenko, who faces up to 25 years in prison for murder and the illegal crossing of the Russian border, within a broader debate about the EU-Russia relations. They have considerably deteriorated as a consequence of the Ukrainian crisis and the sanctions the EU and Russian imposed against one another.
A few days ago, the EU extended the freezing of property and a ban on travelling to the EU imposed on some 150 people who assisted in the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Zaoralek also said the Savchenko case proved Russia’s shameful behaviour in Ukraine, applying two different approaches to the Ukrainian crisis. On the one hand, Russia is calming down the military situation, and on the other hand, its policy is not changing at all, Zaoralek added.
Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said on arriving in Brussels yesterday that primarily European unity was needed in the EU relation to Russia. “Russia is big, Russia is important, Russia is significant. And Russia is not simple,” he added.
