EU warns Russia to de-escalate or face sanctions

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EU warns Russia to de-escalate or face sanctions

AFP
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Brussels (AFP) - The European Union condemned Russia's "acts of aggression" on Monday and warned that EU-Russia ties were at risk failing concrete moves by Moscow to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine by Thursday.

As the 28-nation bloc raced to defuse the crisis, EU president Herman Van Rompuy announced Monday he was calling a summit of the bloc's heads of state and government on Thursday, in effect setting a time frame for Russia to act.

The announcement of the summit came at the close of five hours of crisis talks by the EU's foreign ministers that ended with a two-page statement warning of sanctions against President Vladimir Putin's threat of military incursion.

"The European Union strongly condemns the clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity by acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces," the ministers said.

A carnival float with a paper-mache caricature of Russian President Vladimir Putin flexing his muscle with the word 'Crimea' written on it, takes part in the traditional Rose Monday carnival parade in the western German city of Duesseldorf. Photo: Reuters.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she would hold talks in Madrid on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and then go on to Kiev on Wednesday.

In their statement, the ministers threatened targeted sanctions against Moscow as well as saying bilateral ties were at risk.

"In the absence of de-escalating steps by Russia, the EU shall decide about consequences for bilateral relations between the EU and Russia," said the statement, issued after the hastily convened crisis talks.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that "if there is no de-escalation before Thursday, these measures will take effect."

The statement cited as an example of such a measure suspending long-running talks with the Russian authorities on easing EU visa requirements for the country's citizens, as well as a new cooperation agreement.

It added too that the EU was ready to "consider further targeted measures" and would remain "permanently seized (of the matter) in order to be in a position to take rapidly all necessary measures."

EU sources said "targeted measures" would include visa bans or asset freezes against senior figures as well as suspending mutual accords.

The statement made no specific mention of an arms embargo suggested in an original draft statement put to the ministers, which was seen by AFP earlier.

It demanded that Russia pull back its forces to permanent bases and abide by a string of international agreements.

-Sharp EU differences-

There were sharp differences however between the ministers meeting for their second emergency EU get-together on Ukraine in less than two weeks.

Hawkish ministers from EU nations once in the Soviet sphere, such as Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic, went into the talks demanding sanctions.

"Some in Russia are still impressed by their military might," said Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, also a hardliner. "That is not the way to make friends in Europe, in the world."

Others opted for a softer approach, in line with heavyweights Germany and France.

"Europe is without doubt in the worst crisis since the fall of the (Berlin) wall" 25 years ago, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"The threat of a division of Europe is real again," he added. "Now is the time for diplomacy."

"Diplomacy does not mean weakness but is more needed than ever to prevent us from being drawn into the abyss of military escalation."

On Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he was violating a 1994 accord in which Moscow pledged to respect the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine.

But she also suggested, and Putin agreed, to set up a contact group on Ukraine, reflecting Berlin's desire to keep contacts open with Moscow rather than risk an open breach.

"We need to talk to Putin, who has his own good reasons for doing bad things," a senior diplomat told AFP. "The situation is extremely dangerous. We need a way out of this 'us' and 'them' Cold War syndrome."