The European Union will leave Ukraine non-essential diplomatic personnelafter reviewing the situation in the country, in full tension with Russia for the military deployment on the Ukrainian border.
As confirmed by the EU Foreign Affairs spokesman, Peter Stano, the non-essential diplomatic staff will have the opportunity to “telework from outside the country”indicating that this is not an evacuation as such of the community delegation in Kiev, in line with what was decided by countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada.
“We continue to assess the situation as it evolves, in line with our duty of care to our staff and in close consultation and coordination with EU Member States,” he said.
At the end of January, Washington evacuated the relatives of its embassy staff, in a move that was replicated by other countries but was nevertheless rejected by the EU. The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrellasked “not to dramatize” ruling out at that time follow the American footsteps. In the same line, Spain called for calm and ruled out evacuating diplomatic personnel and Spanish citizens, although he assured that he would react quickly to any evolution of events in the country.
Shortly before the EU decision was announced, the authorities of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and South Korea called on their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible.
Every option on the table
In this sense, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, reaffirmed this Friday that all options are on the table in the event that Russia militarily attacks Ukraine. and informed European leaders and allies about the sanctions that the community bloc is preparing for that scenario, during a videoconference meeting organized by US President Joe Biden.
The telematic meeting, the second of its kind called by Biden, served to assess the situation of the “crisis caused by the aggressive behavior of Russia with Ukraine” and to discuss efforts to provide a “united and effective” response, the European Commission said in a statement.
“President von der Leyen outlined the status of sectoral and individual sanctions in the event of further military aggression by Russia on Ukraine. She reaffirmed the fact that all options were on the table and that the sanctions would involve above all the financial and energy sectorsas well as exports of high-tech products,” they explained.
During the meeting, the leaders evaluated the “significant” diplomatic approach towards Russia “to convince it to de-escalate the crisis and choose the path of dialogue” and “took note of the ongoing cooperation to end massive sanctions” against Moscow, according to the Community Executive.
They also “underlined their strong support for Ukraine”, which in the case of the EU includes the rapid adoption of an emergency financial aid package of 1,200 million euros, which was approved today by the ambassadors of the Member States.
In parallel to the design of possible actions to Russia, the European Commission has continued to work on preparing the EU itselfparticularly in the area of energy, contacting its partners to secure additional supplies of natural gas or liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the event that deliveries from Russia are interrupted.
Von der Leyen has thanked the US president for his support in this task, according to the Commission.
German policy also insisted on the need to continue fighting disinformation coming from Russia “through strategic communication efforts.”
The meeting was invited, among others, by the French president, Emmanuel Macron; the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, or the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Situation “very, very serious”
What’s more, a spokesman for the German government described the situation in Ukraine as “very, very serious” at the end of a teleconference with US President Joe Biden.
In a series of tweets, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit indicated that The exchange had the ultimate goal of “avoiding a war in Europe“.
“The allies are determined to adopt swift and high-impact sanctions against Russia in the event of a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” Hebestreit summed up.
“All diplomatic efforts are aimed at moving Moscow towards de-escalation,” he concluded.
The German government also specified that all participants in the virtual meeting “share their great concern about the increase in tensions due to Russian military activities,” according to a statement sent to the media.
In addition, the leadersexpressed their continued solidarity and support for Ukraine,” according to the note.
Scholz is scheduled to travel to Kiev next Monday and later to Moscow, where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
So that, The governments of Denmark and Norway on Friday asked their citizens residing in Ukraine to leave this country urgently due to the security situation caused by the crisis with Russia.
“There is a serious situation in Ukraine as a result of Russian threats and rearmament. We fear that Russia will carry out its threats to use military force in Ukraine,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod told a news conference.