EU leaders have renewed existing sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea. Brussels urged Moscow to return to the negotiating table but warned of punitive measures should Russia invade Ukraine.
Russian soldiers take part in the military drills held by motorized infantry unitsImage: Sergey Pivovarov/Sputnik/picture alliance
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European Union leaders on Thursday agreed to renew existing economic sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
In a joint statement signed off on at the summit, leaders insisted on "the urgent need for Russia to deescalate tensions caused by the military buildup along its border with Ukraine and aggressive rhetoric."
The leaders repeated a message coordinated with the United States, the United Kingdom and the Group of Seven industrial nations in recent weeks. This states that "any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe cost in response, including restrictive measures coordinated with partners.''
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Return to Normandy format?
However, both German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron said the door was open for talks with Moscow.
They urged a return to the "Normandy format" — a four-way dialogue between Paris, Berlin, Kyiv and Moscow — to put into practice the 2015 Minsk accords, a blueprint for a political settlement.
"We have a very good format, the Normandy format, that we want to reactivate, reenergize," Scholz told reporters. "It won't be easy, we should not be naive, and we should be very clear when it comes to the integrity of borders.''
Eastern Ukraine: Saber-rattling between Moscow and Kyiv
Tanks rumble past, cannons thunder: Both Russia and Ukraine have reinforced military presence at their common border in the Donbass region. Both sides are accusing each other of provocation. Is escalation imminent?
Image: Serhoy Takhmazov/Reuters
Troops deployed to the Donbass region
In the first week of April, Russia had begun to build up its military presence at the border with Ukraine. This was a reaction to Ukraine's "provocations" — which were aimed at escalating the conflict between Russian separatists and Ukrainian government troops, the Kremlin said. According to observers sent by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), there was no provocation.
A tank fires during control checks of Russia's armed forces. On both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian border, troops are testing the combat readiness of their weapon systems. This thumbnail was taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
The US, NATO and the EU have pledged support for Ukraine's efforts to defend its territory. Ankara said on Friday that the US had already announced at the end of March that it would be sending two warships to the Black Sea in mid-April. The USS Thomas Hudner (pictured) is one of two missile destroyers which sailed through the Bosporus in March.
Image: Murad Sezer/REUTERS
War raging for seven years
The conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in early 2014, when pro-Russian rebels seized control in parts of the Ukrainian districts of Donetsk and Luhansk. According to the Ukrainian government and its Western allies, the Kremlin supports the rebels unofficially by providing mercenaries and weapons. Since 2014, several ceasefires have been agreed upon. They were, however, broken time and again.
Image: Oleksandr Klymenko/REUTERS
Civilians bear the brunt
A Donetsk resident inspects the ruins of his house, destroyed during a conflict between militants of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Ukrainian armed forces. Although mainly soldiers, mercenaries, rebels and militiamen are involved in the conflict, the civilian population is repeatedly affected. At the beginning of 2019, the UN recorded 3,300 civilians killed.
Image: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Ceasefires and hostilities
Since 2014, combat activities of varying intensity have claimed the lives of a total of more than 13,000 people. The current ceasefire, in force since July 2020, is relatively stable, according to the OSCE. Recently, however, hostilities have increased again. At least seven Ukrainian government soldiers and a five-year-old boy were killed during the last two weeks.
Image: Serhiy Takhmazov/Reuters
Boosting the troops' morale
During a visit to the Donbass region earlier in the week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy inspected the situation on the ground and honored soldiers for services rendered. On Saturday, he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. According to Ukrainian media reports, a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron is on the agenda as well.
Image: Presidency of Ukraine/picture alliance
Russian citizens on Ukrainian soil
By international law, the renegade areas belong to Ukraine. However, some 400,000 residents with Russian citizenship inhabit the zone. "To protect them," Moscow announced on Friday, the Kremlin would take action. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said that "Russia now has more troops on the border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014."
Image: Alexander Usenko/AA/picture alliance
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Targeting of top military officers
The EU leaders also agreed in a resolution that "any new sanctions package should include the Russian officer corps and flag officers involved in the planning of a possible invasion, as well as the immediate circle and oligarchs 'in the orbit of the Russian president and their families.'"
The document said this could involve the freezing of financial and physical assets in the EU, as well as travel bans and the possible exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT system of international payment.
The EU's eastern member states are particularly anxious about Russia's troop buildup near Ukraine.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, whose country borders Russia, warned that Moscow's actions were precipitating one of the most precarious security situations since the Soviet Union collapsed.
The EU's appeal comes as Russia says it has given draft documents to the US outlining security arrangements that it seeks to negotiate with Washington and the rest of the NATO military alliance.
