The EU wants to provide Ukraine with more billions in aid. New economic sanctions are on the table for Russia. There is disagreement on the subject of arms deliveries.
The foreign ministers of the EU states want to exchange views with their US colleague Antony Blinken on the latest developments in the conflict with Russia over Ukraine. According to the EU’s foreign service, Blinken will join a physical meeting of European ministers in Brussels on Monday via video conference. One of the topics of the deliberations will be how to deal with demands made by Russia that are considered unacceptable. Blinken is also expected to report on the recent crisis talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
Against the background of the tensions with Russia, the EU Commission wants to provide Ukraine with further billions in aid in the short term. “As always, the EU is helping Ukraine in this difficult situation,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Monday. Among other things, the German politician proposed an emergency aid loan package of 1.2 billion euros. We are counting on the Council of States and the European Parliament to give the go-ahead as soon as possible.
Support for modernization of the country
According to Von der Leyen, the EU Commission will soon work on longer-term help for the modernization of Ukraine. The authority also wants to increase the amount of grants for the state by 120 million euros this year, almost doubling it. In total, the EU and its financial institutions have provided the country with more than 17 billion euros in loans and grants since 2014. Von der Leyen reiterated that Ukraine is a free and sovereign country that makes its own decisions.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) warned before the foreign ministers’ meeting of a further escalation in the Ukraine crisis. “Unfortunately, the threat is very real and in a way very frightening,” said Schallenberg to Ö1. There are plans for the evacuation of embassy employees from Kiev, but at the moment it is important “to have our eyes and ears as present as possible right now in this phase”. The United States and Great Britain had previously announced that they would withdraw some of their embassy staff from Kiev and oblige diplomats’ relatives to leave the country.
Schallenberg described the virtual meeting with Blinken as a “transatlantic alliance”. They want to work together on a “very strong response” in the event of “military aggression” on the part of Russia.
New economic sanctions are currently on the table in Brussels. Schallenberg was convinced that punitive measures could also be taken against Russia without jeopardizing Europe’s energy security. The foreign minister admitted that there was a “certain dependency”. “The simple fact is that 40 percent of the gas comes from Russia.”
“As far as financial sanctions and the movement of goods are concerned, everything is on the table,” said the foreign minister on possible sanctions. He warned against committing to individual keywords such as the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline or the Swift financial system when taking punitive measures. He is of the opinion that something that is not even in operation and approved is an “insignificant part of a threat” against Moscow.
Appropriate measures would be considered “depending on the degree” of the aggression on the part of Russia, emphasized Schallenberg. “But it is certainly not the case that we only react when tanks cross the border, Moscow must also be aware of that.”
“Unprecedented sanctions”
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod meanwhile emphasized that the EU was ready for far-reaching sanctions against Russia. “There is no doubt that we are prepared to impose comprehensive, unprecedented sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine again,” said Kofod ahead of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels. Russia and President Vladimir Putin should know that if they want to move borders in Europe, the price will be very, very high.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis meanwhile suspected that Russia would like to “divide the West”. “We cannot afford to give the Russians this victory,” he said in Brussels.
Debate on arms deliveries
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn is critical of arms deliveries to Ukraine despite the Russian threat. “I think it’s really wrong to make it clear to people that this military superiority that exists between Russia and Ukraine, that it can now be balanced with weapons. I don’t think that’s working,” Asselborn said on Monday morning on Deutschlandfunk. In his opinion, a large majority in NATO wants to avoid war – so one should not resort to the “logic of war”.
It was the right way “to make it very clear once again, with the tools of diplomacy,” “that a Russian invasion of Ukraine will not be accepted.” Intervention in Ukraine will not be a victory for Russia.
Meanwhile, a government spokeswoman in Berlin confirmed that the German government was sticking to its stance of not supplying any weapons to Ukraine. Berlin acknowledges that allies are pursuing a different course here. However, no license is granted for the delivery of lethal weapons of war to Ukraine.
In view of a massive Russian troop deployment near Ukraine, there are currently fears in the West that the Kremlin could be planning an invasion of the neighboring country. However, it is also considered possible that fears are only being stirred up in order to persuade the NATO states to make concessions when demands for new security guarantees are made. It is Russia’s declared goal, for example, that NATO refrain from further eastward expansion and withdraw its armed forces from eastern alliance states. NATO and the EU reject these demands as unacceptable.
(APA/dpa/Reuters)