Weapons, money, sanctions: EU foreign ministers on Monday reaffirmed their willingness to support Ukraine and increase pressure on Moscow despite the threat of a cut in Russian gas supplies.
“It is a test of resistance for our societies. We have to hold on. We have no choice, ”said the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell at the end of the meeting.
European leaders are concerned to see hostility to sanctions growing in public opinion as the price of energy soars in Europe. The war waged by the Kremlin in Ukraine has repercussions for our citizens, who are “faced with very high prices for raw materials and energy”, acknowledged the new Belgian Foreign Minister, Hadja Lahbib.
But the ministers decided “unanimously” on Monday to continue aid to Ukraine, insisted Josep Borrell.
They gave their agreement to the new measures presented by the European Commission, including an embargo on gold purchases from Russia, and they approved the release of a fifth tranche of 500 million euros to finance the supply of weapons and military equipment.
“Some European leaders have said that the sanctions were a mistake, a mistake. I don’t think it’s a mistake, that’s what we have to do, and we will continue to do it, ”said Josep Borrell, in response to criticism from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “Withdrawing the sanctions would be fatal. It is our credibility that is at stake,” insisted Luxembourg Minister Jean Asselborn.
“Bending to Vladimir Putin’s demands will not work, it never has. It’s a trap,” warned the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba, in his address to his European counterparts.
“The sanctions work”
Viktor Orban denounced the European sanctions on Friday, seeing it as “an error”, because “they did not achieve their goal, and even had the opposite effect”. “The European economy has shot itself in the lungs and is asphyxiated,” he said.
“Sanctions work”, maintains on the contrary Josep Borrell. “They are hitting Vladimir Putin and his accomplices hard, and their effects on the Russian economy will grow even more,” he said.
“Russia’s real objective is the impoverishment of Europe. Putin wants to turn public opinion against the governments in place in the hope of replacing them with radical forces that would be more favorable to Russia,” denounced Dmytro Kouleba.
“Russia is trying to demoralize us”, accused Anna Lührmann, the German Minister for European Affairs, saying she was ready for “all kinds of scenarios”.
The weapon of gas and grain
Moscow is blocking Ukrainian ports and has begun to reduce its gas deliveries to EU countries, some of which – Germany and Italy, in particular – are very dependent on it. Berlin fears in particular the closure of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, through which transits a third of the 153 billion cubic meters of gas purchased annually by Europe; he is currently on a maintenance break.
The EU is therefore looking for other suppliers. An agreement will allow the doubling of imports from Azerbaijan “in a few years”, moreover announced Monday the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during a trip to Baku. The country supplied 8 billion cubic meters of gas to the EU in 2021.
Russia is also blocking the export of some 20 million tonnes of cereals by Ukraine and “burning the country’s crops”, lamented Jean Asselborn.
Turkey and the United Nations are negotiating an agreement between the two belligerents to release Ukrainian grain stocks. Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will also discuss the subject at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday in Tehran.
Resuming grain exports from Ukraine is a “matter of life and death” for tens of thousands of people, Borrell insisted. He said he was “hopeful” that an agreement will be reached. But “we have doubts about Russia’s good faith,” admitted a senior European official.