Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
The EU demands Russia's full withdrawal from Ukraine to amend sanctions, requiring unanimity among member states. US and Russia discuss lifting some sanctions.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukraine would be one of the main conditions to lift or amend EU sanctions, a European Commission spokesperson said on Wednesday.
European Union countries renewed the bloc's two sanctions frameworks on Russia for another six months at the end of January and earlier this month. Any changes to sanctions require unanimity among its 27 member states.
"The end of the Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine would be one of the main preconditions to amend or lift sanctions," the spokesperson said.
The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks at sea and against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.
Russia said on Tuesday the United States had agreed to help it lift a series of Western sanctions and restrictions on food, fertiliser and shipping companies as preconditions for a maritime security deal in the Black Sea.
Diplomats told Reuters that most of the curbs listed by the Kremlin related to European Union sanctions and restrictions.
(Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Toby Chopra and Alex Richardson)
The article discusses the EU's demand for Russia's unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine as a precondition to amend sanctions.
The EU requires the unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from Ukraine to consider amending sanctions.
The US reached deals with Ukraine and Russia to pause attacks at sea, with discussions on lifting some sanctions.
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