European Union threatens Russia with “serious consequences” in case of military aggression against Ukraine

A “military aggression” against Ukraine would have “serious consequences and a high cost” for Russia, warned on Thursday the 27 heads of state and government of the European Union (EU), in a joint statement, during a summit in Brussels.

“The European Council reiterates its full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Any new aggression against Ukraine will have serious consequences and a high cost in response “, the leaders affirmed.

• European nationalist parties agree to vote together on common issues in Parliament
• Borrell: the EU needs migrants, but we cannot allow them to be a weapon
• Who can replace Angela Merkel as head of the European Union now that she is leaving?

The conclusions were unanimously adopted after several hours of closed-door discussions on possible economic sanctions.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that “we will not compromise Ukraine’s right to choose its own path.”

“We are not going to compromise NATO’s right to protect and defend all of its allies,” he added after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski in Brussels.

For his part, Zelenski declared that “since 2014, since the beginning of the war, Russia has pushed Ukraine towards NATO and today it is paving the difficult path of its accession.”

Western countries accuse Russia of preparing a new invasion of Ukraine and of placing a considerable contingent on the border.

Russia is demanding that NATO “formally” renounce its 2008 decision to open the door for Ukraine and Georgia to join, to which the Kremlin is categorically opposed.

“We must avoid playing the Russian game,” the representative of a European state told AFP on Thursday.

“Faced with the military pressure exerted by Russia, mistakes must be avoided: accepting the conditions proposed would be an act of weakness, but escalation must also be avoided,” he added.

On Wednesday, Russia handed over a list of security demands to the US undersecretary for Europe, Karen Donfried, who traveled to Moscow.

Donfried arrived in Brussels on Thursday to present these proposals to NATO in a meeting with the ambassadors of the member states, diplomatic sources indicated.

In 2008 an accession to Ukraine and Georgia was promised at a NATO summit in Bucharest, despite warnings from France and Germany. But the entry of a new member must be approved unanimously, recalled Stoltenberg.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants a direct dialogue with the United States on the pulse with Ukraine and seeks security guarantees as a condition for easing tensions.

Both the United States and the European Union have warned that in the event of an invasion, they will impose strong sanctions on Russia.

“The aggressor is Russia,” Stoltenberg said. “It was Russia that used military force against Ukraine, illegally annexed a part of Ukraine, Crimea, in 2014 and continues to destabilize the east of the country,” he noted.

Meeting at a summit on Thursday in Brussels, leaders of the European Union countries – of which 21 are members of NATO – sent a double message to Putin: they warned that a new intervention in Ukraine would have “very serious consequences.” serious ”and asked for dialogue between the parties.

Leave Russia in “uncertainty”

“Leaving the adversary in uncertainty is the best way to use the weapon of sanctions,” stressed a European diplomat.

“They asked us to prepare options. We are willing. In the event of a new military aggression, the cost to be paid by Russia will be very high and there will be serious consequences ”, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had assured on Wednesday.

The recently completed but not yet operational Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany “is part of the puzzle,” declared Polish head of government Mateusz Morawiecki.

The new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has not yet openly ruled on whether or not the gas pipeline will be used as an instrument of pressure.

“Russia does not want to return to the Normandy agreement format and wants to negotiate directly with the United States,” acknowledged a European diplomat.

This diplomatic configuration was achieved during a summit in Minsk in 2015 and accepted by Putin, with France and Germany in the role of moderators of the negotiations between the two belligerents.

• Next pandemic could be “worse or deadlier,” warns Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine creator
• How the new Super Green Pass complicates social life for the unvaccinated in Italy
• Flight MH370: can one of the great mysteries of aviation finally be solved?
• Plumber finds money hidden in the wall of a megachurch (and could have solved a mysterious robbery from 2014)
• They find dead a young Brazilian who was missing and was forced to dig her own grave
• US Congressman Releases Christmas Family Photo With Guns, Days After School Shooting

.

Deshawn