The lifting by the West of sanctions against Russia in exchange for the unblocking of Ukrainian ports will cause a further escalation of the war in Ukraine, as well as a possible invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of other European states. This was stated by adviser to the head of the President's Office Mikhail Podolyak in an interview with Current Time..

According to the representative of the authorities, it is impossible to negotiate concessions in favor of the Russians, since for them this will be a signal of weakness of the EU and the USA..

“Russia always goes for blackmail and is ready to kill people in order to get some additional opportunity for itself.. Assume that part of the sanctions will be lifted from it. This will encourage her to further escalate the conflict.. And not only in Ukraine. They will understand that the world is really weak, such as it was before the start of the war in Ukraine,” Podolyak said..

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The adviser to the head of the Presidential Office added that the agreement to unblock ports in exchange for the lifting of part of the sanctions could lead to the fact that subsequently other countries will have to take a direct part in hostilities against the Russian Federation..

“If you follow your lead in Russia by lifting part of the sanctions, they will continue to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and will set new conditions. This could go on forever. Then the conflict in Ukraine, in any case, will grow as much as possible, they will pull here both equipment and manpower. And sooner or later, other European countries will be involved in the hostilities,” the official said..

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Earlier it was reported that Zelensky does not rule out a military way to unblock Ukrainian ports..