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EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: "This trade relationship is important to us, but it is much more important for Russia"
Photo: OLIVIER MATTHYS / AFP
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with far-reaching restrictions on trade relations in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.
"If there are further attacks on Ukraine's territorial integrity, we will respond with massive economic and financial sanctions," she said Thursday at an online event hosted by the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The EU is by far Russia's largest trading partner and by far its largest investor.
"This trade relationship is important to us, but it is much more important to Russia," she said.
The EU wants a “common future” with Russia
Von der Leyen emphasized that from her point of view the current difficulties have nothing to do with Russia or the population.
These would be caused by the dangerous policies of the Kremlin.
"Russia and Europe share their geography, culture and history - we also want a common future," she said.
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 NATO to make concessions when it comes to demands for new security guarantees.
It is Russia's declared goal, for example, that NATO refrain from further eastward expansion and withdraw its armed forces from eastern alliance states.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had recently expressed reservations about the risk of a Russian invasion of his country.
"The risks are not new, and they have not increased," he said in a speech.
"The hype about them has only gotten bigger." Zelenskyy said that there hadn't already been an invasion in 2014, alluding to the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
muk/dpa
