E.U.–U.S. talks on tackling Russia sanctions evasion fail — Süddeutsche Zeitung

Talks between the European Union and the United States on coordinating efforts to crack down on sanctions evasion by Russia have ended in failure, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on May 26, citing an internal document from Germany’s Foreign Ministry.

The document refers to a meeting of the E.U. Foreign Affairs Council held in Brussels on May 20. During the meeting, according to the report, the E.U.’s special envoy for sanctions, David O’Sullivan, said there had been a “complete cessation of transatlantic coordination on sanctions evasion.” He added that joint work on the issue had stopped, and that cooperation among G7 countries had “lost momentum.”

As the outlet noted, it is now unclear how the E.U. and the U.S. plan to coordinate future sanctions packages against Russia.

According to The New York Times, U.S. President Donald Trump declined to join a new round of sanctions being prepared by European nations following his May 19 phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, after Russia’s large-scale strike on Ukraine on May 25, Trump said he was prepared to toughen sanctions against Moscow. The Wall Street Journal later reported that Trump is considering imposing new measures before the end of the week.