EU announces further sanctions on Russia as transatlantic rift over Ukraine widens

THE transatlantic rift over Ukraine widened today as EU diplomats announced further sanctions against Russia will come into force next week.
The 16th package of measures including travel bans, asset freezes and trade restrictions will come into force on February 24, the third anniversary of the Russian invasion.
The move signals that the EU remains hostile to US President Donald Trump’s bid to normalise relations with Russia, which has included suggestions it be brought back into the G7 group of big capitalist economies, from which (then the G8) it was expelled in 2014 when it responded to the Maidan coup in Ukraine by annexing Crimea.
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