Gonzalez Laya asserts that the response of the European Union will be “unity” against Russia

Abigail Brewer 4 years ago 3 min read

The UK is preparing for its head-to-head G7 summit in Cornwall for June

Brussels, February 22 (EFE). – The Foreign Minister of Spain, Arancha Gonzalez Laia, on Monday, upon her arrival in Brussels to meet with the rest of the European ministers in this field, confirmed that the European Union (EU) will interact with “unity” against Russia.

Gonzalez said Laya before the start of the meeting in which the European Union foreign ministers will hold the preparation of sanctions against Moscow after the condemnation of the opposition Alexei Navalny.

However, the minister also said that the 27 countries should talk about a “space of support, cooperation and cooperation between the European Union and Russia,” which in her view should also be “strengthened,” because we are “neighbors and interests that unite us. Shared issues like climate change or the Iran deal.”

The foreign ministers will discuss Russia today after the visit of the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, to Moscow, after which he left the door open for the possibility of agreeing to sanctions against this country

Borrell said, “It is clear that Russia is in confrontation with the European Union and in the case of Mr. Navalny there is a refusal to respect his obligations, including a refusal to observe the decision of the European Court of Human Rights.” Upon his arrival today at the Foreign Affairs Council, regarding the Strasbourg ruling, which demanded last week the release of the Kremlin opponent.

“Today there will be an important discussion between the foreign ministers about how to respond to this and I hope we will do so in a unified and resolute manner,” the High Representative said.

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The German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, confirmed that he had arrived in Brussels with the aim of “issuing an order to prepare the aforementioned list of sanctions against individuals.”

Although like Laia, he also said that the 27 must “find ways of how to maintain the dialogue with Moscow.”

For Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Orisco, Borrell’s trip to Moscow, which sparked massive criticism, was a “turning point”, and he spoke of the need to adopt sanctions against Russia under the new system to punish human rights violations, such as Estonia. Foreign Minister Eva Maria Limits also indicated upon her arrival.

He added that representatives of the European Union spoke yesterday about this matter with Navalny Chief of Staff Ivan Zhdanov.

In addition to preparing for sanctions on Russia, the foreign ministers of the European Union, on a very busy schedule, will hold a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and they will discuss the situation in Burma after the coup and the killing of three protesters since the victory of the riots. EFE

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(For more information about the European Union on euroefe.euractiv.es)