EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the violence in Ukraine that flared over the weekend.<br /><br />Top diplomats from the 28 EU countries discussed whether the events in eastern Ukraine amounted to an escalation of the crisis, which would trigger economic sanctions.<br /><br />When asked by reporters if Russia was behind the unrest in the east of the country, Dutch Foreign Minister Frank Timmermans said: “The problem is that it looks very very similar to what happened in the Crimea.<br /><br />“If it looks like a horse, it walks like a horse. It’s usually a horse and not a Zebra.”<br /><br />EU diplomats claim that Russia has been fomenting the violence and sending military personnel to the area.<br /><br />British Foreign Minister William Hague said that “further sanctions have to be the response to Russia’s behaviour.” <br /><br />“Of course, we will need to agree amongst the whole of the EU how far those go. But certainly I will be making that argument,” he said.<br /><br />That view was echoed by Belgum’s foreign minister, Didier Reynders.<br /><br />“It will perhaps be necessary to go towards economic sanctions to make (Russia) see sense. The goal is effectively to achieve a de-escalation and to restore calm in the region. Until now, we’ve seen nothing of the sort,” he said.<br /><br />The meeting comes three days ahead of planned negotiations in Geneva on the crisis between the US, the EU, Russia and Ukraine.
