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Europe doesn't want peace - Kremlin

28 March 2025 16:17 (UTC +04:00)

The Kremlin said that the EU's refusal to ease sanctions on Russia shows the bloc does not want peace in Ukraine, APA reports citing the Barron's.

Moscow is demanding the West remove sanctions on Rosselkhozbank -- the Russian Agricultural Bank -- as a precondition to restoring a deal on the safe passage of Ukrainian cargo in the Black Sea.

"An integral part of the Black Sea deal is the lifting of sanctions on a Russian bank," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

"If European countries don't want to go down this path, it means they don't want to go down the path of peace in unison with the efforts shown in Moscow and Washington," he added.

Under EU sanctions, Rosselkhozbank has been kicked off the Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging network, which underpins international payments.

European leaders in Paris on Thursday rejected easing any of the sanctions imposed on Moscow.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there was "complete clarity that now is not the time for the lifting of sanctions," saying instead they should be strengthened.

In a separate briefing, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said lifting sanctions would be a "grave mistake" and "makes no sense" without a truce.