EU foreign policy chief says no concessions to Russia until a full and unconditional ceasefire with Ukraine is in place

The EU is set to begin working on a new, 19th package of sanctions against Russia, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said, warning against any "concessions" to Moscow.

The bloc's top diplomat made the remarks on Monday after a hastily convened emergency meeting of the member states' foreign ministers ahead of the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, scheduled for Friday.

"As far as Russia has not agreed to a full and unconditional ceasefire, we should not even discuss any concessions," Kallas said in a statement as she called for "transatlantic unity."

"The sequencing of the steps is important. First, an unconditional ceasefire with a strong monitoring system and ironclad security guarantees," she stressed, adding that the EU "will work on a 19th package of sanctions."

The announcement comes less than a month after the bloc managed to agree on the 18th sanctions package against Moscow after weeks of back-and-forth between the EU member states. The restrictions, touted by Kallas at the time as "one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia," targeted the country's banking and energy sector. It also added another 105 vessels to a blacklist of what Brussels calls the "shadow fleet," allegedly involved in transporting Russian oil to bypass the bloc's restrictions.

The restrictions were condemned by Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating that Russia had "repeatedly said that we consider such unilateral restrictions to be illegal. We oppose them."

The country has already developed "a certain immunity" and adapted to functioning under the sanctions, Peskov added, noting that the unilateral curbs have proven to be a "double-edged sword," which creates "a negative effect" not only for Moscow, but also for those who impose them.

(RT.com)