KYIV. Oct 23 (Interfax) - The sanctions policy must motivate Russia to fully implement the Minsk agreements, but for now Moscow has been trying to secure weaker restrictive measures without implementing all the points, says Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.
"The goal Russia is pursuing out is to drag out the process and, based on the ceasefire regime only, to weaken or abolish the sanctions," he said during a joint press conference held with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel in Kyiv on Thursday.
The policy of anti-Russian sanctions should give advantage "to the approach whereby the occupation of Ukraine's sovereign territory has ended, troops are withdrawn, control over the national border restored and the economic, humanitarian and other elements of the Minsk process are implemented," Poroshenko said.
"The sanctions policy must be the tool which motivates the aggressor and invader to sit down at the negotiating table and ensures the fulfillment of the obligations reached in Minsk," said the head of state.