The western world close ranks against Putin's war
Created: 03/01/2022, 19:32
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, speaks during a plenary session of the European Parliament.
© Jonas Roosens/BELGA/dpa
If Russian President Vladimir Putin was counting on dividing Europe and the West by attacking Ukraine, he miscalculated.
It is unclear how long the unity will last.
Berlin - Europe and large parts of the western world are standing shoulder to shoulder with Russian President Vladimir Putin's intensified war of aggression in Ukraine.
In Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) again called for the attack to be stopped immediately.
"The bloodshed must end.
Vladimir Putin is abusing the Ukrainian people," he said during an appearance with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on Tuesday.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a special session of the European Parliament: "We are more united than ever."
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) flew to New York, where she wanted to campaign for widespread condemnation of the Russian attack at the emergency session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly late in the evening.
“When it comes to war and peace, staying out is not an option.
The world will remember where we were today for a long time to come," said Baerbock on her departure, according to the Federal Foreign Office.
As many countries in the world as possible would have to “show their colours: for peace and justice.”
Western states hope that as many of the 193 member countries as possible will condemn Russia's war in the UN General Assembly and thus make visible the worldwide isolation of the Russian leadership.
The minimum goal is to surpass votes for a 2014 resolution that invalidated a Russian referendum in Crimea.
At that time, 100 member states voted for the text.
Scholz: Will now be a dramatic time
Scholz painted a bleak picture of the situation - and prepared the citizens for worse.
"Ukraine is literally fighting for survival." Russian troop movements are extensive.
"That's why we mustn't delude ourselves: this will still be a very, very dramatic time." The pictures with many dead, injured and destruction "will only be a beginning of what is likely to come".
European Union - "More united than ever"?
The EU is often described as a club of quarreling states in which, when the going gets tough, everyone thinks only of themselves.
In the Ukraine crisis, the EU is surprisingly united - and is throwing one certainty after the other overboard.
The 27 countries decided on the toughest sanctions at unprecedented speed.
And in coordination with partners such as the USA or Great Britain.
"If Putin tried to split the EU, weaken NATO and smash the international community, he achieved exactly the opposite," said von der Leyen on Tuesday.
"We are more united than ever." Guest of honor was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who received a standing ovation via live video for his emotional appeal.
He again called for his country to join the EU.
Then the differences in the EU start again.
Because the states have moved closer together in view of the Russian war against Ukraine.
But there are still deep differences of opinion - for example with a view to Ukraine's EU prospects.
The sanctions decisions also jerked, sometimes violently, for example with the planned Swift exclusion of Russian banks.
And Switzerland had to be pushed for a long time to join the EU sanctions.
Draghi and Bettel: For sanctions - but also for dialogue
Top European politicians such as Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Luxemburg's Bettel emphasized the unity of the West, but also called for the dialogue with Moscow to be resumed.
Draghi said in the Senate in Rome: "Perhaps Putin thought we were powerless, at odds or intoxicated by our wealth.
He was wrong.” In order to achieve peace, dialogue is needed.
"But I have the feeling that the moment isn't here yet," he admitted, disillusioned.
Test for NATO
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was always involved in the transatlantic shifts.
Putin's war is a real test for the military alliance.
At the same time, however, many people's fear of an escalation of the war could give NATO a new raison d'être with its collective defense.
"We will protect and defend every inch of NATO territory," said Stoltenberg on Tuesday.
However, he continued to rule out military intervention in Ukraine.
US government calls Putin one of the greatest unifiers of NATO
According to the US government, too, the Russian attack has led to a closing of ranks within NATO and other western allies.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Monday evening called Putin "one of the greatest unifiers of NATO in modern history."
She added: "What you see here is a united Europe, a united West, a united Nato standing up against the aggression and invasion led by President Putin."
UN: Dozens of countries leave the room at Lavrov's
Many countries also showed their colors at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In protest against the Russian war of aggression, the German Ambassador Katharina Stasch and dozens of other delegations left the hall before the speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"The Human Rights Council must not be misused as a platform for disinformation," said Stasch afterwards.
"Foreign Minister Lavrov's grotesque claims must be exposed for what they are: a cynical distortion of the facts."
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Lavrov, who was connected via video link, read a statement in which he justified the attack on Ukraine with human rights violations on the Ukrainian side.
dpa