Brussels, 06/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the G7 summit on Thursday 5 June, the European Parliament's Greens Group again called on the European Union to set up an embargo on the sale of arms to Russia, criticising the forthcoming deliveries of Mistral ships by France. “The failure to stop arms exports to Russia (notably from France and Germany) will prevent the G7 and the EU from developing any coherent Russia strategy”, said Greens co-leader Rebecca Harms. “France must abandon its arms export plans and the EU must finally adopt an arms embargo to Russia”, she added.
Challenging the Mistral deliveries, Harms described the situation as “unfathomable”. “NATO
and, particularly, the US want to assist those countries that will soon be threatened by these Mistral ships”, she stated.
Questioned at the G7 on the issue of the Mistral ships, France's President François Hollande stated that the contract for these ships dates back to 2011. “We are executing the contract perfectly legally”, he said. He recalled that no military sanctions have been taken out against Russia. “They will be delivered in October. At that time, we will see where we are with this”, he said. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that “the issue of [arms] exports relates to phase 3 [economic sanctions]” - a phase that the EU has not entered. (CG with AN)