EU Summit To Reflect Desire To Avoid Confrontation With Russia - European Commissioner

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2021) Sanctions against Russia will be discussed at the upcoming EU leaders' summit, but the talks are also expected to demonstrate a desire to avoid confrontation with Moscow, Deputy President of the European Commission, European Commissioner for European values and Transparency Vera Yurova said.

Next week's summit will cover the issue of new economic sanctions against Russia, with the Czech Republic, Poland and Latvia expected to take the toughest stance, Yurova said in an interview with Czech Radio on Saturday.

The commissioner added that Western European states have been demonstrating a softer reaction to Russia's actions and summit participants are expected to demonstrate "that the EU wants to avoid confrontation with its close neighbor.

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Nonetheless, according to Yurova, the EU continues continue to insist that Russia needs to respect human rights, especially in what concerns opposition activist Alexey Navalny, and needs to end its cyber activities and "hybrid wars."

The special European Council summit, scheduled to take place on May 24-25 in Brussels, will focus on climate policy, relations with Russia, as well as the response to the coronavirus pandemic and the EU-UK trade agreement.

An EU source told Sputnik that the bloc's leaders will instruct EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to prepare a report on the strategy of relations with Moscow similar to the one presented in March for Turkey. However, no major policy changes are expected.