This content was published on January 18, 2022 – 09:13
Brussels, Jan 18 (EFE) .- The Vice Secretary General of the European External Action Service (SEAE), the Spanish Enrique Mora, meets this Tuesday in Moscow with his Russian counterparts to discuss security in Europe, as announced by himself on Twitter and European sources explained to Efe.
“In Moscow for talks with Russian colleagues. EU-Russia bilateral relations, foreign policy issues and the security architecture in Europe will be on the agenda,” Mora wrote on the social network.
The meeting comes after last week’s meetings between Russia and the United States, NATO and the OSCE that highlighted disagreements with the Kremlin over its demands that the Atlantic Alliance not expand eastward and that the allies withdraw missiles close to its borders.
“The principles reiterated by the EU foreign ministers last Friday in Brest are the core of the EU’s position,” Mora said.
At their meeting last week, the ministers agreed on a decalogue of requests to Moscow, among which stand out the rejection “of the Russian attempt to create spheres of influence in Europe” like those that existed during the Cold War, the warning of sanctions if attacks Ukraine, and, at the same time, the will to continue negotiating with Russia.
Russia has threatened to break off the negotiations if it does not soon receive a written response from Washington and NATO to its demands, to which the EU High Representative for European Affairs, Josep Borrell, assured yesterday in a speech in the European Parliament that Moscow knows that such requests are unacceptable to Western countries.
Borrell also pointed out that Washington and the Alliance are coordinated with the EU on their negotiations with Moscow and also warned of the risk of the Donbas region – which he visited two weeks ago – moving further and further away from Ukraine due to the Kremlin’s efforts to integrate it into Russia.
The high representative said, however, that the possibility of a Russian military attack on Ukraine is not now the most likely scenario, but he did warn that “there is another way to attack”, referring to cyber attacks, such as the one Ukraine suffered last week. last week.
Mora’s trip to Moscow coincides with the meeting that the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, will hold today in the same city with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
Baerbock also met yesterday in Kiev with the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, in two visits whose objectives are to relaunch the Normandy format, which unites Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine. EFE
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(More information on the European Union at euroefe.euractiv.es)
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