Ukraine warns EU to avoid sanctions split. Vladimir Putin to exploit their differences (Arseniy Yatsenyuk)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned EU leaders Thursday to keep the pressure on Russia and not allow President Vladimir Putin to exploit their differences over sanctions.

"If Putin splits the unity among EU member states and among the leaders of the EU, this will be the biggest success story for Putin and a disaster for the free world," Yatsenyuk said ahead of a summit of European leaders in Brussels.

Putin's aim "is the instability of the EU," he added after a meeting with European Union president Donald Tusk, a former Polish premier who has taken a hard line on sanctions.

EU leaders meet later Thursday to review sanctions against Russia as a tenuous cease-fire accord brokered by France and Germany in February continues to hold in east Ukraine.

The immediate issue is whether to extend the tough economic sector measures adopted after the July shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine which the West blamed on pro-Moscow rebels.

Some of the 28 EU member states want the summit to agree to extend these economic sanctions to the end of 2015, linking them to the timeline - and the success or failure - of the February Minsk cease-fire accords.

• Others believe the bloc should wait to see how the situation develops on the ground, leaving a rollover decision to the June EU summit, or even until July.

Diplomatic sources said the most likely outcome is that EU leaders ask the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to begin work so the sanctions can be rolled over in June.

"New sanctions will not happen," one of the sources added.

Sanctions have been contentious from the start of the Ukraine crisis, with some EU member states such as Germany and Italy reluctant to go too far for fear of damaging important trade and political ties with Russia.

In contrast, the UK and many of the former east European states once ruled from Moscow have backed a tougher line. British troops have begun a training mission in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence in London said Thursday.

The BBC reported that 35 personnel are in the southern city of Mykolaiv as part of a two-month mission, although the ministry spokeswoman declined to confirm the details.

"The first elements of the training package began in March ... We have got troops out there training," she told AFP.

• Ministers announced last month that up to 75 troops at a time would be deployed to Ukraine, providing training on tactical intelligence, logistics and medical care.

However, the British government has ruled out supplying any lethal equipment to the Ukrainian forces.
 AFP
globaltimes.cn
19/3/15
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