Our news desk has just issued this item from RFE/RL's correspondent in Brussels:
BRUSSELS -- EU leaders are pondering whether to prolong economic sanctions against Russia when they meet in Brussels on March 19.
An EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RFE/RL that European Council President Donald Tusk is working with Germany and France on a proposal suggesting that a decision to extend sanctions targeting the banking and oil sectors until December should be made this month.
But diplomats said some countries, including Greece, Austria, and Slovakia, want to wait and make a decision in June, when some of the sanctions come up for renewal.
A draft of conclusions for the two-day summit, seen by RFE/RL, had left a blank space for a decision on prolonging the sanctions, which were imposed in response to Russia's interference in Ukraine.
The draft conclusions also call for the strengthening of relations with the six Eastern Partnership countries -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine -- and voice support for the ratification of Association Agreements forging closer ties with Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The draft highlights the need to challenge "Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns" and calls on EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to prepare an action plan "on strategic communication in support of media freedom and EU values" by June.
Extensive Washington Post interview with Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who argues against the West arming Ukraine.
Says Navalny:
I do not think that supplies of weapons, well, lethal weapons, will change the situation dramatically. Just because the fact is that a military victory of Ukraine over Russia is impossible. Putin will get new facts that Americans are fighting the war in Ukraine and not Ukrainians. But I cannot assume that the Ukrainian army, even armed with American drones, will win a victory over the Russian army.
The supply of weapons is a somewhat popular step inside the United States. This is something for the American public opinion. “We armed Ukrainians so that they could resist.” I would say that introduction of visa and financial restrictions for oligarchs would hit Putin’s regime harder than drones.
If it had not been for economic and sectoral sanctions, Putin would have seized Odessa by now. And I think that self-confidence of Putin and his circle was, “The West is weak, the West is amorphous, and they will not be able to introduce economic sanctions."