(Paris) The Europeans want to promote a “Helsinki II strategy” of detente for the security of the continent, as opposed to the “Yalta II” block against block that the Russians are trying to impose, declared Wednesday the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Posted yesterday at 3:04 p.m.
“Russia has proposed fundamentals that closely resemble a return to the pre-1975 status quo, that is to say a Yalta II format actually leading to the resurgence of blocs, of areas of influence,” a- he launched in an interview with AFP.
“The proposed guidelines deprive some countries of their freedom of choice and sovereignty to join alliances,” he added.
East and West Blocks, Buffer Zone
Russia calls on the United States and NATO for security guarantees aimed at reconstituting its sphere of influence in the former USSR and recreating a buffer zone between the Alliance and its territory in Eastern Europe and eastern.
Moscow demands in particular a commitment from NATO to stop any enlargement towards the East, in particular in Ukraine, and to reduce its military presence in the new member states of the Alliance, from the Baltic countries to Romania.
“For us it is unacceptable”, hammered the head of the French diplomacy, whose country ensures since the 1er January the rotating presidency of the EU, in unison with the United States and the other member countries of the Alliance.
This would amount to a new division of Europe like what was recorded at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945 between the United States and the Soviet Union, the two victorious powers of the Second War. global.
“Faced with a strategy which wants to promote a Yalta II, we must develop a strategy which would like to promote a Helsinki II, in line with the commitments made in 1975 by all the signatories of the Helsinki agreements, including the USSR in France. period, extended by the Charter of Paris of 1990 ”, added Jean-Yves Le Drian.
These agreements, signed at the end of the Helsinki conference on security and cooperation in Europe, enshrined detente between Westerners and Soviets after decades of the Cold War by guaranteeing the inviolability of borders and allowing greater circulation of people and ideas.
Relaxation 2.0 or Cold War 2.0?
The Charter of Paris for European security, established on the basis of the Helsinki agreements, ratified the end of the Cold War following German reunification in 1990 and the fall of the communist regimes.
The Europeans must stall Thursday and Friday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brest their position after the intense diplomatic sequence of the week between the Americans, the Russians, NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Whether within the Alliance or the OSCE, “they take their place” in the dialogue with Russia, insisted Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“The fact that we were consulted by the United States before their meeting with the Russians on Monday in Geneva and after this first meeting is a positive sign. This dialogue must continue, ”he added.
He also outlined an imminent resumption of the discussions of the Normandy group (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine) for the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict which has left more than 13,000 dead since the start of the conflict between Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists in the East. from the country.
“I see signs of a possible recovery,” he said, after a joint visit by diplomatic advisers to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Moscow and then Kiev.
Russia has been avoiding this format of discussions for several months, which aims to implement the Minsk peace accords (2015) and refers to a first meeting of the leaders of the four countries in 2014 in Normandy (western France).
In all these fora, including the OSCE where Thursday’s meeting will be held under the Polish presidency, “the Europeans are maneuvering to defend their own security interests”, assured Jean-Yves Le Drian.