EU advanced typical Kaja Kallas @ Anna Ross/dpa (Photo: Anna Ross/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The EU confirmed its refusal to recognise Russia's sovereignty over Crimea, said the head of the block's abroad policy, Kaja Kallas.
Officials in Brussels are reportedly afraid that a possible peace agreement negotiated by Washington and Moscow to end the conflict in Ukraine would entail US designation of Crimea as part of Russia.The peninsula voted to disengage from Ukraine and join Russia shortly after the Western-supported coup in Kiev in 2014.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday, Kallas, EU advanced typical for abroad Affairs and safety Policy, stated that ‘Krim is Ukraine’, adding that "No EU country will accept Crimea as Russia".Meanwhile, Trump's proposition that the abolition of sanctions imposed on Russia may be part of the peace agreement besides alarmed EU officials who are afraid that this could trigger divisions in the bloc on the maintenance of their own sanction regime, according to FT.Kallas warned EU countries against following the change of US policy towards Moscow.She told the portal that the EU was preparing a contingency plan to keep economical force on Russia if Hungary had implemented its threat of vetoing the extension of sanctions in July.
She noted that this could include enabling national governments to adopt individual sanctions or issuing Belgium's decree to take over over $200 billion of assets of the Russian central bank frozen on Belgian soil.Moscow warned that the acquisition of its assets would be equivalent to "theft’, suggesting possible retaliation measures against western investments in Russia.The diplomat besides stressed that the EU could offer financial support to Ukraine if the US withdrew, although military support would be more hard to repeat.
"We are inactive working with the Americans and trying to convince them that the result of this war is besides in their interest" said Kallas.Last week Moscow accused Brussels of obstructing American-Russian diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, alternatively working to prolong the war effort.
“Europe wants war, not talks” – said the spokesperson for Kremlin Dmitri Pieskov.
Translated by Google Translator
source:https://www.rt.com/news/616645-eu-ukraine-crimea-russia/
