The EU sanctions against Russia could be lifted by the end of the year, Czech President Milos Zeman said.
"It may be possible to lift the sanctions [against Russia] fully, maybe even before the end of this year. The European Council will discuss this in June, I think," Zeman said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper published Tuesday, Sputnik reported. According to the Czech president, economic sanctions are "completely pointless," while the political restrictions were introduced to prevent Russia from invading eastern Ukraine.
"I believe that all official moves by the Russian politicians prove that there will be no intervention in eastern Ukraine," Zeman said, adding that he believed that the internal conflict in the region was dying down. Russia's relationship with the European Union deteriorated greatly amid the Ukrainian crisis, with the bloc introducing several rounds of sanctions against Moscow, accusing it of meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.
