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EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday. The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, is invited through a link. The protests in Myanmar, the events in Hong Kong and the nuclear deal with Iran are highly topical. The diplomatic crisis with Russia is expected to dominate.
The treatment of regime critic Alexei Navalny is unanimously condemned. But it is not clear how far member states want and can go to pressure Moscow. For example, is Chancellor Angela Merkel prepared even to stop the Russian Nordstream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany? It is at the same time a sensitive issue in relations between Germany and the United States, and one that President Joe Biden avoided in his American speech before the security conference in Munich on Friday.
Putin defends the nuclear deal and has influence in Tehran
Biden wants to strengthen ties with Berlin and keep American troops in Germany. The countries are united in perhaps the latest attempt to salvage the Iran nuclear deal. If Iran returns to its obligations under the nuclear deal, the United States will do the same, according to Biden, who wants to work with other countries to confront Iran on other issues, such as its influence in the Middle East and its ballistic missile program. .
Regarding the Russian president, Biden said: “Putin is trying to weaken Europe and our alliance with NATO.” “He wants to undermine transatlantic unity and our resolve, because it is much easier for the Kremlin to intimidate and threaten individual states than to negotiate with a strong and closely knit transatlantic community.”
But Putin defends the nuclear deal and has influence in Tehran. Moscow and Washington have also expanded the bilateral agreement on intercontinental nuclear weapons New Start.
Russia remains the “main threat” to the EU in cyberspace.
The fact that diplomatic balance can be difficult shows that Estonian new government Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets is prepared to take the first step to formally resolve the country’s long-standing and unresolved border dispute with Russia. She believes it would strengthen security in her country, which relies on rotating NATO forces to deter its neighbor to the east. The conflict in Ukraine and the tense situation in Belarus fuel unrest in the Baltic.
At the same time, a new report from Estonian intelligence services says that Russia remains the “main threat” to the EU in cyberspace, with increased risks of espionage, attacks and influence. The report claims, according to Euractiv, that Russia continues to apply tactics to sow discord among Western societies.
Conditions deteriorated after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and are now icy. This was demonstrated by a recent meeting between the EU Foreign Minister, Josep Borrell, and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. Borrell will explain the trip to the foreign ministers. He is expected to be tasked with developing proposals for new sanctions against Russian representatives and which may be presented next month.
The line of the Swedish government is, it is said, that the EU continues to act unanimously, balanced and patiently.
Before the meeting, several foreign ministers would meet on Sunday with Navalny staff, Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov, in Brussels. The purpose was, according to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, to obtain information about the real situation and that it is better to hear it directly.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russia’s EU policy is based on having principles against violations of international law, supporting Eastern Partnership countries, being resilient to Russian-influenced operations, having a selective engagement and supporting human rights and Russian civil society. The line of the Swedish government is, it is said, that the EU continues to act unanimously, balanced and patiently.
Easier said than done if strong words are not enough and political room for maneuver is limited.
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