Brussels, 13/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 12 June, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso hailed the direct negotiations started between Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. “I welcomed his peace initiative and direct talks with Russia. The fact that now President Poroshenko and President Putin are speaking directly is a positive step forward”, Barroso said during a press conference in Georgia, relating his phonecall with Poroshenko. Poroshenko and Putin spoke on the phone on 12 June and had a “long and substantial” discussion, according to the Ukrainian Presidency. Poroshenko reportedly presented Putin with his plan to try and ease the tension in Eastern Ukraine, and the two men reportedly discussed measures to be taken in order to obtain a ceasefire and achieve a peaceful exit from the crisis.
Stating that Poroshenko had conveyed his “extreme concern” with the ongoing armed unrest in Eastern Ukraine and with the incident involving Russian tanks that, according to the Ukrainian authorities, have crossed into Ukrainian territory, Barroso recalled that the “European Union has stated several times (…) that it is very important that Russia ceases any kind of military actions in this area”. “We believe that illegal armed groups need to disarm and we call on Russia to withdraw the authorisation for use of force in Ukraine”, he added. Barroso once again called on Russia “to engage constructively with Ukraine and to give concrete steps and clear evidence of de-escalating efforts”.
Message of cooperation and not of confrontation. Recalling that the association agreements with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are going to be signed on 27 June, Barroso reiterated the EU's willingness to pursue talks with Russia on the concrete implementation of these agreements, in case there are any concerns on the Russian side. “We have to respect the content of these agreements, what was already decided by the governments of these countries, but if there are some concerns, if there are technical issues that the Russian authorities want to clarify, we are ready for it”, he said.
Barroso underlined that the European message is a “message of dialogue and cooperation, not a message of confrontation”. “At the same time, we have to be firm in the respect of the sovereign right of any country to decide its own future”, he stated. (CG)