If only there was no war

The West discusses the introduction of new economic sanctions against Russia in response to the ongoing bombing of Aleppo. According to AP, this was stated by the heads of foreign policy departments of the United States and Great Britain John Kerry and Boris Johnson.

With their statements, they performed according to the results of a 10-sided meeting in London. In addition to Kerry and Johnson, representatives of France, Germany, Italy, the European Union as a whole, as well as Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar took part in it.

Sanctions are supposed to be imposed against the regime of the Syrian dictator Bashar al -Assad, which is supported by Moscow.

Kerry and Johnson expressed the hope that it would be possible to stop the bombing based on the results of negotiations with Russia. At the same time, they noticed that diplomatic methods should be reinforced with economic pressure.

All funds are considered except the military actually, Kerry and Johnson were also noticed. The head of the State Department emphasized that the countries pledged not to warm up the conflict so that he would not result in a larger regional war or even in a direct battle of two superpowers. The British minister, in turn, called military methods too radical.

The US Secretary of State emphasized that crimes are committed in Syria daily against humanity. The head of the British Foreign Ministry, in turn, announced war crimes. Both noted the need to bring guilty of these crimes to criminal liability.

On Thursday, Financial Times reported that on October 17, the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the EU members intend to discuss the introduction of new sanctions against Moscow because of its war crimes in Syria. It was claimed that up to 12 Russians are supposed to be included in the sanctions list. The publication, however, could not find out whether only military or representatives of the Russian political leadership will become new defendants in the list.

On Saturday, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said that the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel intends to achieve new sanctions against the Kremlin in connection with its actions in Syria. The objects of sanctions should be Russian enterprises of the aircraft industry and the defense industry.

According to the publication, these sanctions will be discussed at the EU summit 20-21. It was also reported that US President Barack Obama approved the “tough reaction” of Merkel to Russia's war crimes.