EU-Russia conflict - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

With An Eye On Russia, EU Opens ‘Military Mobility’ Project To NATO Allies

Radio Free Europe — Wed, 12 May 2021 10:05:42 +0000

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell at a meeting of the bloc’s defense ministers in Brussels on May 6. John Thys (Reuters)

The European Union has approved the participation of NATO members the United States, Canada, and Norway in a project aimed at speeding up the movement of troops and military equipment around Europe.

The May 6 decision marks the first time the EU has opened up an initiative from its Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) pact, which aims to deepen defense ties, to outside partners.

The pact was agreed by EU leaders in December 2017 amid heightened tensions between the West and Moscow over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March 2014 and has been backing separatists in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.

The bloc has since earmarked 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) from its joint budget until 2028 to improve so-called military mobility, something NATO deems as crucial in the event of a conflict with Russia.

Beyond border red tape, the smooth deployment of forces whether by land, sea, or air is also often hindered by ill-adapted infrastructure.

At their first in-person meeting in more than a year in Brussels, the 27 EU defense ministers discussed Russia’s recent military buildup in annexed Crimea and on the Ukrainian border.

“The debate reaffirmed the EU’s position that Russia must de-escalate and reduce tensions,” and that the full implementation of the Minsk agreements aimed at putting an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine “is key to a lasting political solution,” according to a statement.

The ministers also gave the greenlight for the United States, Canada, and Norway to join the bloc’s military mobility project, led by the Netherlands.

The three countries’ “expertise will contribute to the project and, with it, to improving military mobility within and beyond the EU,” the bloc’s foreign policy chief and meeting chairman, Josep Borrell, said in a statement.

“It will make EU defense more efficient and contribute to strengthen our security.”

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer hailed the move as a “quantum leap in concrete cooperation when it comes to ensuring that troops can be deployed in Europe across national borders.”

“Talking about military mobility, making sure that troops can be moved across borders within Europe is a very important issue not only for the European Union but also for NATO,” she added.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who met with the EU ministers, also welcomed the move, and noted that “non-EU allies play an essential role in protecting and defending Europe.”

The United States and its NATO allies have enhanced their presence in the eastern part of the alliance, in part to help reassure Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland that they will be defended in case of any Russian aggression.

Canada is leading a NATO battlegroup stationed in Latvia, and non-EU member Norway is involved, too.

A reminder of the continued tensions in the region came on May 6 when Estonia filed a protest with Moscow a day after a Russian aircraft allegedly violated its airspace for the second time this year.

The military said an IL-96 plane belonging to Russia spent about one minute in Estonian airspace near the Baltic Sea island of Vaindloo in what the Foreign Ministry called “a serious incident.”

The crew did not present a flight plan and failed to maintain radio contact with Estonian Air Navigation Services, the military and officials said.

Moscow said it disputes Tallin’s characterization of the facts.

EU defense ministers also discussed on May 6 a project to set up a 5,000-strong military force that could be deployed quickly to a potential conflict zone. The plan has the backing of 14 member countries, including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-eu-nato-allies-military-mobility-borrell-stoltenberg/31241378.html

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EU makes first use of Magnitsky Act, on Russia

Andrew Rettman — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 07:29:50 +0000

EU foreign relations chief Josep Borrell speaking to US secretary of state Anthony Blinken by video-link on Monday (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

The EU has agreed to blacklist Russian officials guilty of wrongly jailing opposition figure Alexei Navalny, in a new “low” in relations.

The asset-freezes and visa-bans ought to be in force in early March, EU foreign relations chief Josep Borrell said after meeting foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (22 February).

And a draft EU list already named four men – Alexander Bastrykin, Alexander Kalashnikov, Igor Krasnov, and Viktor Zolotov – who run Russia’s investigative, prison, prosecution, and national guard services, according to the Reuters news agency.

The EU measures will be its first-ever invocation of new ‘Magnitsky Act’ human rights sanctions, named informally after a late Russian dissident.

Navalny’s associates wanted the EU to also list Russian oligarchs, whose corruption he exposed and who benefitted from his being silenced.

The Magnitsky Act allows for that, legally speaking.

But Borrell said Europe did not have enough evidence to pin Navalny’s “persecution” on anyone else for now.

“Maybe we don’t like the oligarchs … but if there isn’t a link we can prove in a court of law, we cannot use it [the Magnitsky Act]. I’m sorry, this is also the rule of law”, Borrell said.

The new EU sanctions come on top of previous measures over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, chemical-weapons attacks, and cyber attacks.

They also come after Russia humiliated Borrell on his recent trip to Moscow by trash-talking the EU and expelling European diplomats while he was there.

Its behaviour was a “clear symbol [Russia] is not interested in cooperation with the EU, on the contrary, it looks to disengagement and confrontation”, Borrell said.

Russia had, “unfortunately”, become the EU’s “adversary”, he added.

Borrell was roasted by European media and politicians for letting himself be humiliated on his Moscow trip.

But he said all that had blown over on Monday.

It was just 70 or so MEPs out of 750 who had signed a letter calling for his resignation, Borrell said. “It’s less than 10 percent, so let’s put things in the right proportion,” he said.

The German and Swedish foreign ministers echoed the EU top diplomat.

“Relations [with Russia] are certainly at a low – there’s no other word for it,” Germany’s Heiko Maas said.

“At the same time, we need to talk about how to keep up a constructive dialogue with Russia,” he added.

“The EU message to Russia is clear,” Sweden’s Ann Linde said.

Ministers were “united in support of the EU’s Russia policy. Navalny and all others unlawfully detained must be released,” she said.

The new US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, joined the EU talks by video on Monday.

And he “welcomed the EU’s decision to impose sanctions against Russia under the human rights sanctions regime”, the state department said.

There is more division in the West on Russia than Monday’s sanctions deal might suggest, however.

The US has imposed sanctions on EU firms building a Russia-Germany gas pipeline it says will cause strategic harm.

And the Polish foreign minister, on Monday, published an op-ed in the Politico news agency urging Blinken to get tougher if Germany went ahead.

Poland was also interested in EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs despite Borrell’s legal niceties, diplomatic sources said.

But even the Russia-hawkish Baltic EU states were happy with the compromise as a first step.

And Leonid Volkov, a close associate of Navalny’s who lives in Lithuania, also saw some good in it.

“Even if it’s too little … it’s the first time personal sanctions are applied with regard to human rights violations, so it opens a way for further negotiation on this with Europe,” he said.

Source: https://euobserver.com/foreign/151019

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