The Europeans in Brussels have once again split into two “camps” over the Ukrainian issue. Eastern Europeans and the Baltic states are pushing for a tough response in Moscow and, on the other hand, the “moderates”, who want Europe to stay calm and exhaust any room for dialogue with Russia.
The moderates include countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Greece.
A meeting of European Foreign Ministers will be held in Brussels on Monday, where US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will also speak via teleconference.
“Any room for dialogue with Moscow must be exhausted before making any aggressive move,” a European diplomat told EURACTIV.
The diplomat said that Putin’s choice to escalate now is not accidental: “Europe is struggling with the pandemic, we are trying to return to economic recovery as soon as possible, we are experiencing an unprecedented energy crisis and the last thing we want is a conflict with Russia and “even more distortion of the energy market,” he said.
Europeans have promised strong sanctions against Moscow in the event of an offensive in Ukraine.
However, according to diplomatic sources, Russia’s economy is at a better level than in 2014 and the Putin regime has “certainly taken into account” possible European sanctions.
“It’s the perfect time for Putin to bring Russia back into the game of world order […] “Apart from the pandemic, Putin is also taking advantage of the shift of American interest from Europe and Washington’s shift to China and the Pacific.”
As for Ukraine, the Europeans are considering providing additional assistance in terms of “resilience”, mainly to counter cyber-attacks as well as to provide military training to Ukrainians.
“Providing military equipment and sending troops is not an option, at least at European level,” he said.
Asked if China and Russia are colluding with the West at the moment, the European diplomat said anti-Western sentiment was prevalent in both countries, but that a “conflict of interest” in the region – also in Central Asia – was a matter of time.
Finally, Athens is said to “remind” in Monday’s meeting that Russia is not the only third country that threatens European territory, leaving clear allusions to Turkey.
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