Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that any peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine must address the “root causes” of the conflict to secure a lasting settlement, as the European Union prepared to impose yet another round of sanctions on Moscow.
“We spoke about the root causes of the conflict not to prolong it, but precisely so that this outcome would be fundamental — long-term and guaranteeing peace,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run TASS news agency.
New sanctions against Russia
The remarks came as EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg, where EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s 19th package of sanctions against Russia was likely to be approved this week.
Kallas also criticised a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, calling the idea “not nice”.
Since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has rolled out multiple rounds of sanctions targeting Moscow’s financial, energy and defence sectors, as well as key officials and oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
