Ukraine: EU threatens retaliation against Russia if attacked
Created: 12/16/2021 Updated: 12/16/2021, 11:55 PM
Ukrainian soldiers patrol the dividing line with the Russian-backed rebels near the village of Nevelske in eastern Ukraine.
© Andriy Dubchak / AP / dpa
Why is Russia pulling tens of thousands of soldiers together near Ukraine?
Nobody in the West has yet been able to answer that.
The EU is now relying on a strategy that is otherwise primarily an issue for NATO.
Brussels - The EU is unanimously threatening Russia with retaliation in the event of an attack on Ukraine.
At their summit in Brussels, the heads of state and government adopted a declaration to this effect on Thursday evening.
It states that Russia urgently needs to defuse the tensions created by the deployment of troops on the border with Ukraine and aggressive rhetoric.
Any further military aggression will have "massive consequences and high costs".
Sanctions coordinated with partners were cited as an example.
The EU fully supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Sanctions possible
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the other heads of state and government left open which sanctions could be involved.
According to diplomats, sanctions against state companies and oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin are being discussed.
In addition, an operating ban for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany and the exclusion of Russia from the Swift payment system are options.
The latter in particular could have far-reaching consequences, as Swift processes messages and financial transactions for more than 11,000 financial institutions worldwide via secure networks.
If banks are no longer able to use Swift, this can have fatal consequences for their business, as they are effectively excluded from the global financial system.
In view of the deployment of Russian troops, Scholz described the inviolability of the borders in Europe as "one of the most important foundations of peace".
One will "do everything to ensure that this invulnerability actually remains".
To avoid war, Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron secured support for mediation efforts at the EU summit.
The statement said that diplomatic efforts are being encouraged to achieve full implementation of the 2015 Minsk Agreement, particularly in the so-called Normandy format.
Deterrence and dialogue is therefore the motto of the hour.
Little progress recently
In the “Normandy format”, Germany and France have been trying for years to mediate between Ukraine and Russia. Recently, however, there has been little progress. Both sides accuse themselves of not keeping agreements. A plan to resolve the conflict had been negotiated in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014. It still supports separatists in eastern Ukraine to this day.
The findings that Russia has concentrated tens of thousands of soldiers in areas not far from Ukraine are of particular concern at the moment.
According to information from NATO circles, it was last between 75,000 and 100,000.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on the sidelines of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj that there were no signs that the military build-up would stop or slow down.
"The opposite is the case: it continues."
Corona pandemic complicates the situation
The EU summit had already discussed the worrying corona situation in the morning.
There were no far-reaching resolutions.
Traveling in Europe could become more complicated again because of the rapid spread of the Omikron variant.
The summit did not rule out further national requirements of the member states such as compulsory testing for vaccinated persons as well.
It was merely agreed that restrictions should not undermine the functioning of the internal market and should not "disproportionately" impede freedom of movement within and into the EU.
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Basically, travel regulations are in the competence of the individual EU states.
Countries like Italy and Greece have tightened the test requirement for vaccinated travelers.
At first, Scholz and the other heads of state and government failed to reach an agreement, despite hours of discussion about the dramatic rise in energy prices.
dpa