Lithuania’s foreign minister has said he hopes the European Union’s forthcoming 20th sanctions package against Russia will be “ambitious”, as the bloc prepares to adopt new measures later this month.
Kęstutis Budrys said the EU must go further in increasing pressure on Moscow, arguing that the United States had, in some respects, taken a tougher approach.
“Paradoxically, despite all the criticism and disappointment directed at the United States, they are doing more than the European Union in terms of sanctions against Russia,” Budrys told Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT. “I hope that this 20th package, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the war, will finally be ambitious, rather than simply marking time.”
Budrys was speaking during a visit to Washington, where he said he was encouraging US officials both to strengthen sanctions on Moscow and to press the EU to move more decisively.
Responding to questions about how peace might be achieved, he said Lithuania’s position was clear: “Let us impose sanctions.”
He argued that both direct measures and secondary sanctions on countries continuing to trade with Russia could destabilise decision-making in the Kremlin.
“It is not Ukraine that should be pressured here,” he said. “Ukrainians have already done everything they possibly can. They are open, they are engaging and they are negotiating in Abu Dhabi. Let us pressure President Putin.”
Budrys accused Russia of attempting to secure a military advantage over the winter by targeting civilian infrastructure and committing war crimes. He said Moscow was seeking to undermine Ukraine by cutting off heating and electricity and portraying the country as powerless to suggest that the Russians have a high ground in negotiations.
“We have to break this,” Budrys added.
His comments came as Ukraine and Russia concluded a second day of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, agreeing to exchange prisoners of war. More than 300 detainees were swapped following the negotiations.
During the talks, large parts of Kyiv were left without heating in sub-zero temperatures after Russian strikes disrupted energy supplies to hundreds of residential buildings.
Since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has been subject to 19 rounds of EU sanctions. The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said the 20th package is expected to be approved on 24 February, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
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