Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Consultations on the conflict in Ukraine
EU wants to take part in talks
When Russia and the USA discuss the Ukraine conflict in the near future, the EU will also want to be at the table. The EU Foreign Representative calls it “absurd” that the security architecture in Europe should be negotiated without their participation.
The European Union would like to be involved in the planned talks between the USA and Russia on de-escalating the Ukraine conflict and the security guarantees demanded by Moscow. “We do not want to and must not be an uninvolved audience, over whose heads decisions are made,” said EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell to “Welt”.
“If Moscow (…) wants to talk about the security architecture in Europe and security guarantees from January, then that is not just a matter that concerns America and Russia,” said Borrell. “The EU has to be present in these negotiations, such negotiations only make sense if they take place in close coordination with and with the participation of the EU.” The fact that Russia wants to negotiate without the involvement of the EU is “absurd”. “We will not accept that. Nothing will be decided about us without our being there.”
Washington has only assured the Europeans of “transparency and solidarity” in relation to the talks planned in Geneva on January 10, but no participation. The exchange with Russia takes place in the bilateral format of the strategic security dialogue, said the spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price, on Tuesday. Borrell told the “Welt” that Moscow wanted “two actors who share their spheres of influence” without involving the EU. “We won’t accept that.”
Moscow’s call for security guarantees and an end to the eastward expansion of the EU and NATO was rejected by the EU diplomat as “a purely Russian agenda with completely unacceptable terms, especially with a view to Ukraine”. “We cannot compromise on fundamental principles,” he said. The right of a state to decide on alliances itself is not negotiable. Price had also stated that some of the Russian proposals were unacceptable to the US and its European “allies and partners”.
In the Ukraine conflict, the EU is sticking to its plan to advise and train Ukrainian officers. “I will soon submit a corresponding proposal to the EU member states,” said Borrell. In addition, he recently decided to support the Ukrainian army with a further 31 million euros to improve their skills in logistics and in the fight against cyberattacks.