French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the EU to forge its own “security and stability” plan with Russia, which risks undermining Western solidarity in the face of the Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine.
In a speech to the European Parliament, Macron called on EU states to “conduct their own dialogue” with Russia rather than supporting US and NATO-led diplomatic efforts, in stark contrast to a call by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for “unity”. ”.
Macron said that despite joint EU-US diplomacy, the Europeans must offer Russia a solution to defuse tensions with Moscow in the “coming weeks”.
“We should build as Europeans by working with other Europeans and with NATO, then offer it for negotiation with Russia,” he told MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday. “It’s good that the Europeans and the United States are coordinating, but the Europeans have to lead their own dialogue.”
Macron’s intervention is the first example of public dissent among NATO members since the United States first warned of a possible Russian attack on Ukraine more than two months ago.
It also breaks a united front between the EU and US on Russia, underpinned by what officials described as unprecedented levels of diplomatic outreach by the US to engage Brussels in dialogue with Moscow. .
Speaking during a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, Blinken stressed the need for a unified approach ahead of his scheduled meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday.
“The strength of our diplomacy, our deterrence and any response to Moscow’s aggression requires unity among allies and partners, as well as within Ukraine,” he said.
Russia has long sought to sideline the EU in favor of negotiations with individual countries. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, opposed broader multinational talks, saying Moscow would prefer to deal primarily with the United States.
“We would rather find a deal and make a deal with the Americans first. Involving too wide a circle of countries in these processes seems counterproductive to us,” he said.
The EU is struggling to reach an agreement on the level of Russian aggression towards Ukraine that should trigger sanctions, amid differing levels of enthusiasm among its members.
Russia has amassed around 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine and has threatened an unspecified ‘military-technical response’ if NATO does not back down its forces and pledge never to admit the Ukraine.
Blinken, who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia could “in the short term” double its force by more than 100,000 troops at various locations near its border with Ukraine.
“It gives the president [Vladimir] Putin also has the ability, at very short notice, to take further aggressive action against Ukraine,” Blinken said. “I strongly, strongly hope that we can keep this going in a diplomatic and peaceful way, but at the end of the day, it’s President Putin’s decision.”
Blinken repeated warnings that Russia would face crippling sanctions if it invaded Ukraine further, having annexed Crimea in 2014 and since then fueling a war in the eastern region of Donbass.
Ryabkov on Wednesday called the security situation in Europe “critical”, but said Russia would “not attack, strike, invade, in quotes whatever, Ukraine”.
Blinken will travel to Berlin on Thursday before meeting Lavrov. The Geneva meeting follows last week’s talks between Russia, the United States and NATO, which Moscow described as an “impasse” after its security demands, including the rejection of the bid from Ukraine to NATO, have been ruled out.
