EU remains 'deeply divided' on Russia sanctions: Nile Gardiner

During an interview on "Mornings with Maria" former Foreign Policy Adviser under Margaret Thatcher Nile Gardiner said that the European Union remains "deeply divided" on sanctions imposed on Russia.

NILE GARDINER: The European Union is moving forward with a series of sanctions against Russia with regard to oil imports. And, of course, this is a step in the right direction. But the reality is, is that the EU remains very divided on this. On this issue, there are some carve-outs involved with regard to the EU sanctions. Also, these sanctions are hitting Russia's oil industry. They are not necessarily hitting Russia's gas industry. And so, again, you know, the European Union, in my view, has been very slow to move, is deeply divided with regard to the sanctions. But also the sanctions are not strong enough. And so, yet again, in my view, the European Union is pursuing an overall a strategy that is not strong enough.

And the EU's default position towards Russia over the course of many, many decades has been one of appeasement. And the leaders of France and Germany in particular and of Schultz and Emmanuel Macron are still intent upon, you know, dialog with Vladimir Putin. They're in regular contact with the Kremlin. There's a lot of suspicion here in London, especially that the French and the Germans seek some kind of deal with Putin, a sort of off-ramp deal for the Russians that will allow Europe to get back to business as usual in terms of doing business with the Kremlin. So, there's a lot of, I would say, lack of trust actually in the European Union, here in the UK, but also in some parts of the EU itself, especially in a place like Poland, the Baltic States, for example, who have been far more hard-line against the Russians than the French and the Germans and Brussels have been. 

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WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: