The Finnish Foreign Minister’s comments come in the context of upcoming discussions among EU foreign ministers due to take place Thursday.
On Tuesday EU leaders called on foreign ministers to consider the need for "any appropriate action, in particular … further restrictive measures" in response to a flare up of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said that the talks will be influenced by what happens between Tuesday – when EU leaders issued their statement – and Thursday, when the ministers meet.
“I believe that we will give instructions that if the need arises, we should draw up a new list of sanctions that can be enforced by the European Council if the situation warrants it,” Tuomioja said.
The minister said however that no immediate decisions appeared to be on the cards. The European Council is scheduled to meet on February 12.
Tuomioja said that Finland is ready to support additional sanctions if the situation requires it.
“We are ruling them out if they are needed as the situation develops. But at the moment there is no clear picture,” he added.
The ministers will meet Thursday to consider the latest developments in eastern Ukraine, where clashes continue between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army, in spite of a ceasefire deal brokered in Minsk, Belarus, last September.
“We are living in very delicate times,” Tuomioja said Tuesday evening.
Kanerva urges Russia to close border with Ukraine
Meanwhile Ilkka Kanerva, head of the parliamentary assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), described the spread of the conflict in the port city of Mariupol as a serious escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
At a meeting of the OSCE parliamentary assembly, Kanerva called on Russia to seal off the border with Ukraine.
Kanerva noted in a statement that violence in eastern Ukraine had increased alarmingly during recent weeks and that closing the border could help ease the situation.
He said the border should be sealed off to cut off weapons or fighters who might be arriving in eastern Ukraine.
