Russia continues to keep Europe in suspense. If this week it carried out operations with Belarus on the Polish border , deploying air landing maneuvers in a training field located in Grodno province, now the EU and NATO have just warned the Kremlin that if it proceeds to invade Ukraine there will be « serious consequences ”.
This same weekend, the Chief of the Defense Staff of the United Kingdom, General Nick Carter , revolutionized public opinion after his controversial statements through the radio by assuring that “Russia has increased its level of threat” and that Britain should be prepared for an ” open war with Russia ” following recent tensions in eastern Europe.
This chain of events and that from Kiev they estimate that Vladimir Putin could have deployed some 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine, is the breeding ground for which, the Foreign Ministers of France, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Germany, Heiko Maashayan indicated through a statement that “any new attempt to undermine the territorial integrity of Ukraine will have an international response.”
The recent image of Russian power has renewed concern within the EU, which is why they have indicated that “we ask Russia to act with restraint and provide transparent information about its military activities.”
The document emphasizes that, in the spring of 2021, Ukraine made a significant contribution to a de-escalation of the situation, despite aggressive Russian rhetoric and the fact that Russia did not provide transparent information under its internationally assumed obligations.
“We remain committed to resolving the conflict on the basis of the Minsk Accords. We regret that Russia has repeatedly refused to meet at the level of foreign ministers in the Normandy format, and we reiterate our readiness to meet as soon as possible and engage in a constructive and substantive exchange. We reiterate our call on Russia to do the same to achieve a lasting peace in the Donbas.
Germany and France strongly support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine , the statement stressed. It should be noted that the Foreign Ministers of the Western partners in the ‘Normandy format’, Heiko Maas of Germany, and Jean-Yves Le Drian of France, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba , this Monday in Brussels on the margins of the meeting of the Eastern Partnership foreign ministers.
“We discussed the security situation in the vicinity of Ukraine and in the occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as the latest actions by Russia. France and Germany have assured me that if Russia dares to launch a large-scale military operation against Ukraine, this will have extremely serious consequences, ”he said.
