The foreign ministers of the EU They did not appreciate this Monday a risk of “imminent attack” on Ukraine by Russia After speaking with the Secretary of State for U.S, Antony Blinken, whose country has begun to withdraw non-essential personnel from its Embassy in Kiev, something that the Europeans are not going to replicate for the moment.
(Read here: US considers increasing military presence in the face of escalation in Ukraine)
“No, I don’t think there is anything new that could increase the feeling of fear about an imminent attack,” said the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, at a press conference at the end of the Council of Community Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which Blinken joined by videoconference.
The European ministers heard from Blinken the results of their latest meetings with Russia, specifically the one last Friday in Geneva with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and the reasons why the United States has decided to withdraw personnel from its Embassy in Kiev.
“Blinken said that it was not an evacuation, but rather to let people freely move, those who are not crucial personnel,” he said. Borrell, who upon his arrival at the Council ruled out that the EU was going to withdraw personnel from its delegation in the Ukrainian capital.
“I am not saying that preventive measures should not be taken,” he said, but added that “even with that very low level of preventive measures,” referring to the departure of certain diplomatic personnel and their families, “I think there is complete agreement between the Member States” that it is not necessary.
The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, played down the fact that Spain and the EU have not decided to start withdrawing personnel from their embassies in Ukraine, unlike the United Kingdom and the United States, and pointed out that Washington has “some protocols for many years of evacuation” concrete.
The head of community diplomacy highlighted his personal coordination with Blinken before and after the meetings that the American has held in the last two weeks with Russian representatives.
In conclusions approved today, European ministers stressed that European security is “indivisible” and that any challenge to that order affects the EU and its member states.
They invite dialogue, but are willing to sanction
The Spanish politician affirmed that the collective diplomatic efforts to bring Russia back to dialogue will continue and stressed that the Member States have asked him to continue “coordinating” the European position with its partners, in order to “guarantee the effectiveness of our efforts”.
“But if diplomacy fails, we are very advanced in preparing the response,” he warned, which will be “a strong and decisive action, not only from the EU, but at the international level.”
Asked what kind of sanctions could be adopted, Borrell pointed out that “part of the dissuasion is not giving information.” “The measures will be taken and applied at the appropriate time, if it comes,” he said, and on the trigger for these restrictive measures, he considered that a cyber attack that paralyzed Ukraine could be considered “much more serious, in terms of applying sanctions, than a border skirmish.
Albares assured that the Twenty-seven have been talking about these sanctions for “time”, that they have not been prepared “blindly” and that they have had “full support” from the EU countries, adding that the ministers have had “a reflection ( …) about the impact it could have on the economies, not only Spanish, but also European”.
The Dutch minister, Wopke Hoekstra, indicated that there is “great consensus” on the potential application of “a strong package of sanctions” and stressed that there will be no distinction between “minor or major aggression” from Russia to Ukraine when deciding on the application of those measures.
He stressed that “all options are on the table,” including Russia’s exclusion from the Swift international banking data system, as proposed by the United States.
Meanwhile, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed this Monday a new financial aid package for Ukraine of 1,200 million euros in loans and grants to help the country “meet its financing needs due to the conflict” with Russia.
Borrell stressed that they are also studying how to support Ukraine against cyber threats and that they continue to accelerate the preparation of an EU assistance mission in that country to reform military education.
“We constantly talk to our partners that are geographically farthest from Russia and they have not always been aware of the problem. Today there is a greater understanding of how serious the danger is. It is good news that this understanding has been reached,” Polish Minister Pawel Jablonski concluded.
EFE
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