MEPs on Thursday 16 December condemned Russia’s current “large-scale military deployment” along the border with Ukraine.
Russia must “immediately and fully withdraw its military forces, cease its threat against the territorial integrity of Ukraine (...), stop all measures that further aggravate the conflict and de-escalate tensions in line with Russia’s international obligations”, says the joint resolution of the Greens/EFA, S&D, Renew Europe, EPP and ECR groups adopted in plenary session (548 votes in favour, 69 against and 54 abstentions).
According to the European Parliament, “recurrent Russian military deployments on the Ukrainian border are a tool to extract political concessions from the West at Ukraine’s expense”. “Compromise or appeasement by the West would be perceived as weakness by the Russian side and only embolden it to further escalate its aggressive approach”, the MEPs warn.
They believe that the EU must be ready to send Moscow “a very stark warning that military hostilities will not only be unacceptable, but also come at a high economic and political price”. According to MEPs, the EU Council must remain ready to agree quickly on further joint action, “in particular the adoption of severe economic and financial sanctions in close coordination ” with, inter alia, the United States and NATO, in order to address the “immediate and credible” threats posed by Russia, rather than “wait for another invasion to take place”.
The Parliament believes that the new sanctions package should target the Russian officer corps and general officers involved in planning a possible invasion, as well as the immediate entourage and oligarchs in the orbit of the Russian President and their families.
Furthermore, it demands that Russia’s exclusion from the SWIFT payment system be included in the sanctions. The Parliament also calls on the EU institutions and Member States to ensure that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline does not go ahead, highlighting the political, economic and security risks of the project.
In parallel to the vote, EU leaders met at a summit to discuss, among other things, the response to Russian aggression in Ukraine (see other news).
Beyond threats to Russia, the Parliament reiterates its support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. Friendly countries should step up their military support to Kiev and the supply of defensive weapons, the MEPs added.
Although not mentioned in the resolution, during the debate on the subject on Tuesday 14 December, MEP Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuania) also said that it was “urgent” to take a decision on the establishment of a training mission (EUTM) (see EUROPE 12849/15).
See the resolution: https://bit.ly/3yvckyh (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)