The European Union took advantage of the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels to summon the foreign ministers to a new extraordinary meeting and take stock with the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, of the sanctions imposed on Russia so far and analyze possible new measures. “Together we will prepare the way to impose the sanctions more drastica total package, the likes of which has never been adopted”, stated the head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, at the end of the meeting. The US representative, for his part, has asked the EU to maintain the response.
According to Borrell, the important thing now is to apply the sanctions approved last week, although he has admitted that they are already reflecting on possible new sanctions. On the table: from close European ports to Russian ships until the expansion of the list of banks expelled from the payment communication system swiftthe inclusion of more oligarchs close to the Russian president on the sanctions list or the reduction of gas purchases Russian, which exports 40% of what it consumes to the EU with a millionaire daily cost that exceeds 600 million euros at current prices.
Isolation
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“There has been an exchange of ideas about the possibilities of reacting with more force but there have been no decisions”, explained Borrell at the end of the meeting. “The important thing is to implement the approved package” although “we are studying new sanctions”, he has added about a strategy that seeks to isolate internationally and weaken the Russian economy but not cause the fall of the regime of Vladimir Putin. “The sanctions are not to provoke a regime change in Russia. They have been triggered by the war and the objective is to weaken the Russian economy, make the Russian economy feel the consequences and strengthen the position of the Ukrainians,” Borrell explained to journalists’ questions.
The European politician has also made it clear that they will not ask the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, surrender, leave Kiev or stop fighting. “It is Putin’s war and only Putin can put an end to it,” he insisted in the face of a war launched by Putin “not by the Russians,” which is not a battle between East West or a “remake of the Cold War.” What the EU has not wanted to enter into is Kiev’s request to establish a no fly zone in Ukraine. “When you decide that means that you are willing to do it using force, sending planes to ensure that it is not violated. It is something that the Council of Foreign Ministers cannot decide. It is a NATO issue,” he has disassociated himself.