The European Union (EU) sanctioned the Russian paramilitary group on Monday Wagner, issuing a warning that any military action against Ukraine will be countered by an unprecedented economic response.
Following the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Liverpool over the weekend, where the United States and its main allies warned the Kremlin that there will be “huge consequences” if it invades Ukraine, the bloc’s heads of diplomacy met in Brussels on Monday. .
The first measure announced was the approval of sanctions against eight people and three companies associated with the private military company Wagner.
They then plan to agree on the terms to express their willingness to impose measures against the russian economy, if the stationing of troops on the border with Ukraine leads to direct military action.
The ministers also have on the agenda the debate on whether the European countries are going to adhere to the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, to be held in February, due to reports of human rights violations by Beijing.
Upon his arrival at the meeting, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, indicated that this appointment was a continuation of the G7.
“There was a solid agreement, a position to have a strong posture of support for Ukraine, to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
We are going to send a clear signal that any aggression against Ukraine will have a very high economic cost, “warned Borrell.
Lithuanian Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis indicated that the threat of sanctions is dissuasive, but that if they are necessary they will have to be of “unprecedented” magnitude.
This meeting of EU ministers will prepare the summit on Wednesday, in Brussels, between the leaders of the EU and their peers from five of the six nations of the eastern association (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and also the European summit on Thursday.
Belarus was excluded from this alliance, but opposition leader Svetlana Tijanóvskaya is in Brussels until Wednesday, and on Sunday she met with EU officials, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, as with Borrell.
A sixth package of sanctions is being prepared against the Alexander Lukashenko, indicated diplomatic sources.
This is the first appointment with her peers of the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, the Green Party politician who took office last week with the government of the new chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A global answer to Moscow
Berlin has one of the most important cards if sanctions are adopted, for example a blockade of the gasoducto Nord Stream 2 built by Gazprom between Germany and Russia.
“If the escalation continues, this gas pipeline will no longer be able to connect to the grid,” Baerbock told ZDF on Sunday.
Nord Stream 2 It will double the capacity of the first gas pipeline, avoiding passing through Ukraine, the route currently used for pumping Russian gas into the EU, which will deprive Kiev of revenue and jeopardize its gas supply.
Europeans must be united, be heard and stand firm against the actions of Russia, “said the representative of a bloc state.
This is the meaning of the actions taken against the group Wagner and its leaders, active in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic.
“This private Russian military company is used to perpetrate destabilizing actions wherever it operates, whether in Europe or other countries, especially in Africa,” the source said, adding that Europe must “give a global response to the country that sponsors it.”
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx