Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Russia

Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna told press after the talks "the ministers spoke with one voice on the need to keep the sanctions in place (..) that's the conclusion we came to and I was encouraged to see that these were not just the voices of Central and Eastern European countries."

He noted that Russia would have to do more than make "empty gestures" for the EU to relent.

Schetyna also said EU states fear a Russian gas cut-off in winter and that ministers spoke of "the need to show solidarity, in the form of urgent, concrete measures, if such a situation takes place."

His remarks were echoed by the foreign ministers of Latvia and Lithuania, but also Denmark.

"I don't think we should decrease pressure just now (..) we are still seeing unacceptable behavior from Russia," Denmark’s Martin Lidegaard said.

The meeting's official conclusions added: there are "continued numerous violations" of the ceasefire accord of 5 September; there are "illegal armed groups" on Ukrainian territory; the Russia-Ukraine border is still open; and pro-Russia rebels are still holding hostages.