Brussels, 01/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 31 March, the foreign ministers of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, France, Laurent Fabius, and Poland, Radoslaw Sikorski, called for an international aid conference, with the participation of Russia, to be held for Ukraine.
“In order to send a strong signal of support, consolidate international support efforts and discuss necessary reforms, we suggest to hold a conference on gathering international support, including technical assistance for Ukraine after the presidential elections”, scheduled for 25 May, state the ministers in a joint statement. “We would greatly appreciate Russian participation”, they add.
The three ministers also encouraged Russia to “contribute to the economic stabilisation of Ukraine, in particular by facilitating trade under WTO rules and by offering Ukraine fair gas prices” (our translation). On 1 April Russia increased the price of the gas it sells to Ukraine by more than a third, from $268.5 per thousand cubic metres to $385.5. Ukraine already has an outstanding payment of $1.7 billion for gas.
The ministers also proposed EU-Russia discussions with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia on the effects of association agreements.
Underlining that “Russia now bears great responsibility”, they call on Russia to refrain from any further escalation of the situation in Ukraine and to scale back its military presence along its border with Ukraine. “The same thing applies to other countries of the eastern partnership”, they note. They laid great stress on “a constructive dialogue between Ukraine and Russia, as a key step towards de-escalation and putting in place a mechanism to resolve the outstanding military, economic and social issues” (our translation).
Füle says time is not on Russia's side.
European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle said on 31 March that the longer the Ukrainian crisis goes on, the less time is on Russia's side. “Some in the Kremlin maybe believe that time is on their side, but it is working in our favour and in favour of international law. I firmly believe that the time will come when someone will apologise for what has been done and will do so in a Russian accent”, he told the European Parliament foreign affairs committee;“but this will only happen if we are united and open to dialogue with the Russians”, he added (our translation). Earlier, he stated that engagement with Russia was needed. He pointed out that the territorial integrity of Ukraine had been violated and that it was still under threat. (CG)