No EU agreement on ‘Tier 3’ sanctions against Russia

Sir Malcolm Rifkind was right: there was no agreement in Europe on serious against Russia. The FT’s Peter Spiegel tweets the news that many have been expecting:

The #EU ambassadors meeting finally breaks. No decision on “phase three” sanctions, but meeting again tomorrow. And maybe Mon. And Tues.

— Peter Spiegel (@SpiegelPeter) July 24, 2014

The EU’s account of the meeting refers, comically, to an ‘exchange of views’ on the ‘preparatory work’ on tier three sanctions.

There was some agreement on the extended list of ‘Putin cronies’. Zero Hedge has a summary of the discussion, drawn from a variety of sources. The headlines are that the number of listed ‘cronies’ is expected to be increased to 87, including several ‘entities’ that operate in Crimea or eastern Ukraine and 15 new individuals.

Meanwhile, separatist militants continue to operate across the Russian and Ukrainian border, according to reports. And the Prime Minister of Ukraine has resigned in protest at the Ukrainian parliament’s reluctance to assume control of the energy market, which leaves the country dangerously exposed as gas supplies dwindle.