Sanctions must precede, not follow possible escalation by Russia - Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that the international community apply sanctions against the Russian Federation before Russia escalates rather than following such escalation.

The statement came as Zelensky was speaking with journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, December 15, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"As for the sanctions policy. Some leaders suggest a format of responding format (...) after a possible escalation on the part of Russia to introduce a strong sanctions policy. Here, it seems to me that we were able to explain to our European colleagues that the sanctions policy following (such escalation - ed.) won’t matter to anyone. Our state is interested in a strong sanctions policy that would precede a possible escalation, and then, I suggest, this escalation might not even occur,” Zelensky said.

The president added that he "was persistent enough" in this regard and expressed the opinion that the facts he had laid out indeed "worked."

As reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is on a working visit to Brussels on December 15-16, where he took part in the sixth Eastern Partnership Summit.

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