EU may flirt with Moscow, not yet set to yield

European Commission High Representative Federica Mogherini listens during a news conference in Riga January 8, 2015. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has set out ways to tempt Russia into defusing the Ukraine crisis but the divided bloc is unlikely to ease sanctions or thaw chilly relations with Moscow any time soon.

In a paper to be put to EU foreign ministers on Monday as they prepare a leaders' summit in March that will review sanctions, Mogherini suggested offering Moscow carrots of cooperation on various issues as well as the stick of economic penalties if it rejects Western demands it pull out of Ukraine.