BRUSSELS, March 29 (Reuters) - After most European Union states expelled Russian diplomats over the Salisbury spy poisoning, sources in Brussels expect the bloc to hold the line on Russia sanctions for now. EU foreign ministers will discuss the bloc's troubled ties with Moscow on April 16, a broad debate planned long before a former Russian spy was found slumped on a public bench together with his daughter in the English town of Salisbury on March 4. But, diplomats and officials said, any appetite that might have been there at the turn of the year to soften the bloc's line and seek more "selective engagement" with Moscow has dissipated after the toxin attack, which Britain, followed by the rest of the EU, blames on Moscow. "Just several weeks ago, the Austrians were ready to join the traditional Russia doves in asking for more engagement with Russia. Now, that would not be possible," said a senior diplomat from a country traditionally hawkish on Moscow. The West responded to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia by expelling more than 100 Russians as undercover spies, including 60 sent home from the United States. Nineteen of the EU's 28 states have told Russian diplomats to leave, and three others recalled their own ambassadors. Only Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia and Austria have not joined the coordinated action.
