Expect no sanctions reprieve from Russia visit – Juncker

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday warned against expecting any announcement on the lifting of EU sanctions on Russia when he visits the country in mid-June.

EU leaders must decide by the end of June whether to prolong the sanctions they imposed on Russia over the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which run out in July.

Juncker will attend an economic forum in Saint Petersburg on June 16, where he will meet with President Vladimir Putin.

But during a visit to Paris Tuesday he downplayed the prospect of any breakthrough on lifting the sanctions on Russia’s banking, defence and energy sectors.

“My visit to Saint Petersburg, which has a more economic than political focus, will not be an occasion for the European Union to announce any sort of change in our attitude towards Russia,” he said.

“I will not change the European Union’s general assessment of Mr Putin’s actions,” he said.

Juncker has backed the position taken by the G7 summit in Japan last week that the lifting of sanctions depends on Russia implementing the Minsk accords, which set out a roadmap towards peace in eastern Ukraine.

On Tuesday, he said he had repeatedly told Putin “that the sanctions remain as they are until the Minsk accords have been implemented.”