Does not rule out “deterrence through massive economic sanctions” if necessary
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has warned that the EU will not be able to dialogue with Russia in the context of the crisis in Ukraine if there is not a de-escalation of tension and under military pressure.
“If Russia has doubts or wants to raise any issue about NATO or the EU, we are open to talk with them and create confidence-building measures, but it is necessary to de-escalate the tension. You cannot dialogue under military pressure », she pointed out in an interview for Europa Sur collected by Europa Press.
The minister points out that we must not forget “what is at stake” in this conflict, such as “international legality itself, the principles of the United Nations Charter, which in Article 2 clearly prohibits the use of force and the threat of the use of force. “Nor can we reject a principle that is inherent to the construction of Europe and to said charter, such as the territorial integrity of the states, the sovereign equality of each state, the capacity of international and European organizations to decide who their members are,” he said. explained.
Albares points out that there is pressure from 120,000 Russian soldiers on the Ukrainian border, which “is not compatible with any defensive need of Russia”, but, at the same time, the channels of dialogue remain open, in the NATO-Russia council, in the within the OSCE and in bilateral meetings. “That has to be the way, at least it is the way in which Spain puts all its efforts,” he said.
In this sense, he warns that the world cannot afford to “go back to the past”, a time when war was “a way of resolving differences in Europe” and not dialogue and diplomacy, or what amounts to the same thing. , «a time of spheres of influence, a time of walls and fences».
However, he recalls that Spain does not rule out “deterrence through massive economic sanctions” if they are necessary, since Spain is united with its European partners and transatlantic allies in dialogue but also in this way, although this is not the that should be “privileged”.