Linas Linkevicius: EU has no right to be flexible with Russia

The Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevicius thinks the West should abandon its flexible policy in the political dialogue with Russia.

The minister said it in an interview with CNN, Evropeiska Pravda reports.

He also criticised the EU's sanctions policy, because sanctions are often declarative.

“We’re really not acting enough in my view. We are reacting, in my view, a bit too slowly and missing targets because we have this list of so-called targeted persons - but more than half of them have nothing to do with the decision making process in Russia,” the politician said.

A number of EU members led by Germany have been carrying out a policy of engaging Russia in a dialogue and promoting democratic values.

Linkevicius is confident that the policy failed and should be abandoned.

“None of the engagement strategies have worked so far. None of them. There have been a hundred-plus efforts to engage Russia, to talk, to be nice and relying on the other side to do the same. I am afraid it's not the case [when we can count on success],” he said.

The Lithuanian foreign minister called on western leaders to change their approach to the dialogue with the Kremlin and give up their flexible policy as it gives no results.

“I’m not calling for an aggressive stance or sharp dialogue. No. Let’s just be consistent. […] Because if we try to be flexible the other side would take it as encouragement, as a weakness,” the minister stressed.