Brussels, 10/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is concerned about the lack of signs of de-escalation in the Ukrainian crisis and about increased Russian military capability in Crimea, according to a statement by the European Commission on Monday 10 March.
“We are concerned by the absence of signs of de-escalation on the ground” said Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. In her view it appears that, on the contrary, we are witnessing “signs of military reinforcement in the Russian position” in Crimea and “increasing isolation” of the peninsula in respect to the rest of the country.
Kocijancic briefly explained that the situation remained “worrying” and emphasised that the EU continued “to think that a solution to the crisis should be found in dialogue between Ukraine and Russia”. The European Council last Thursday emphasised that negotiations between the governments of Ukraine and Russia should “continue in the next few days and produce results within a given deadline”. In the absence of such results, the European Council said that EU would “decide on additional measures, such as bans on entering its territory, freezing assets and cancelling the EU-Russia summit”.
EU-Ukraine association agreement. Kocijancic also indicated that no date had yet been arranged for signing the political chapter of the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine but that European leaders had agreed to speed this up as a means of providing a gesture of support to Kiev. The acting Ukrainian minister for foreign affairs, Andriy Deshchytsia, stated on Sunday that he hoped it would be signed on 17 or 21 March, while the EU has promised to do this before the presidential elections scheduled in Ukraine for 25 May. Kocijancic stated that “no date has been set (…) but it is considered a priority”.
The European Commission is “working intensely to finalise” economic aid measures to support Ukraine, pointed out Commission spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen. She added that these measures should enter into application “in the next few weeks”. On 5 March, the Commission unveiled a massive aid plan to Ukraine worth a total of €11 billion in donations and loans. (LC)