EU Ambassador to the United States David O’Sullivan says that EU six Eastern Partnership nations will not be expected to join the Union’s sanctions against Russia, Sputnik News reports. 

The European Union’s (EU) six Eastern Partnership nations will not be expected to join the Union’s sanctions against Russia, EU Ambassador to the United States David O’Sullivan told Sputnik.

“In none of these cases do we expect alignment on European Union foreign policy, that is expected of [EU]candidate countries,” O’Sullivan said on Thursday.

O’Sullivan noted that only EU candidate countries are expected to come in line with the sanctions policy, “which is not yet the case for any of the Eastern Partnership countries.”

In a Thursday speech to the Atlantic Council, EU Commissioner for European Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said relations with the six Eastern Partners were “not black and white.”

Hahn cited Armenia as an example “to demonstrate that it is possible to be a member of the Eurasian [Economic] Union, but also to explore… the scope of cooperation with the European Union.”