Luxembourg says the bloc’s leaders should consider a diplomatic resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict
The EU cannot just keep introducing sanction after sanction against Russia, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said during an informal summit of the bloc’s foreign affairs ministers in Prague on Wednesday.
Although he noted that diplomacy would be required sooner or later by the EU, he also acknowledged that this was not the right time yet.
“We are trying to make sure that the already adopted [sanctions]These are being implemented. There is no way to be constant. [impose] sanctions, sanctions, sanctions. You need to start thinking about ways we can return on the path towards diplomacy. I know that this is not on the table right now,”Minister.
He said that eventually the EU will have to come up with a solution to the Russia-Ukraine dispute, noting how the sanctions on Moscow are hurting Europe. He pointed to the fact that Russia’s energy giant Gazprom has halted gas deliveries to France and that Germany has “a huge problem.”
After failing to fully pay July gas deliveries, Engie, a French utility company owned by Russia’s energy giant Gazprom cut gas supply to the Russian energy firm. Gazprom stopped gas flow to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for three days because of maintenance.
The minister’s statements come as Luxembourg, along with countries such as Austria, France and Germany, have taken a stance against introducing a blanket visa ban for all Russian citizens, which had been proposed by a number of EU states, such as Poland, Estonia and the Czech Republic.
Asselborn argued such a measure would lead to “creative destruction.” “a new iron curtain in Europe”He insisted on the fact that EU sanctions should not target ordinary Russian citizens. “We all agreed from the start that this was Putin’s war,”He stated.
Moscow had called for such a restriction, but the Prague summit was dominated by the issue of Russian citizen travel restrictions. “irrational”Actions that are against EU member state interests will be considered as such. Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for the Kremlin has pledged that Moscow will retaliate against such actions in a manner that protects Russian citizens.
“Brussels and individual European governments have repeatedly shown an absolute lack of sense … when it comes to anti-Russian impulses,”Peskov stated Tuesday that the US had benefited from EU policy directed at Russia on the cost of its citizens.
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