Top EU diplomats focus on preventing Russia-Ukraine conflict

BRUSSELS

The top EU diplomats will focus on preventing Russian aggression against Ukraine and the bloc is ready to impose serious measures against Russia in case the conflict escalates, the EU foreign policy chief said on Monday.

The Russian military buildup in and around Ukraine will be on the top of the EU foreign ministers’ agenda as they gather in Brussels, Josep Borrell said on his way to the meeting.

“We will send a clear signal that any aggression against Ukraine will have a high cost for Russia, but now we are trying to do our best in order to prevent this from happening,” he said, stressing that the foreign ministers were in a “dissuasion mode.”

The ministers will also discuss the consequences of the migration crisis at the EU borders with Belarus, as well as the situation in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Borrell also explained that they would talk about the Cyprus issue and the reopening of the city of Maras (Varosha in Greek) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

He stressed that the ministers would not take any sanctions decisions during the meeting, dismissing previous reports that restrictive measures against Russian mercenary company Wagner Group would be on the agenda.

The foreign ministers will participate in a working lunch with Qatar’s deputy prime minister and top diplomat Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.