The EU’s top diplomat has warned Russia and the US against creating “spheres of influence” in Europe ahead of talks between the two countries next week regarding proposals from Moscow that would reshape the continent’s defence and security architecture.
Russia, which has stoked fears of a potential military attack on Ukraine after deploying more than 100,000 troops close to its border, has demanded the US and Nato agree to security pledges that would ban former Soviet states from joining the western military alliance and restrict where US troops could be stationed in eastern Europe.
Next week’s negotiations will see Russian officials hold meetings with a US delegation and with Nato, overlooking demands from the EU that it deserves a seat at the talks.
But Josep Borrell, head of the EU’s foreign and security arm, warned that this was no time for a deal akin to the Yalta agreements struck between leaders of the Soviet Union, US and UK that divided Europe after the second world war, and that Brussels would eventually need to play a role in the talks with Moscow.
“We are no longer in Yalta times,” Borrell said during a visit to Ukraine on
Wednesday. “Spheres of influence for two big powers do not belong . . . in 2022. In this dialogue there are not two actors alone, not just the US and Russia.”
Russia denies that it is preparing an invasion of Ukraine, but president
Vladimir Putin has threatened potential military action if its security demands issued to the US and Nato last month are ignored.
Officials from the US and Russia will meet in Geneva next Monday, before the
Russian delegation attends a special session of the Nato-Russia council in Brussels two days later.
While Borrell has said the EU cannot be a “neutral spectator” on the issue, bloc officials have told the Financial Times that the union’s absence from direct talks with Moscow is a reflection of its lack of foreign policy clout, and internal divisions over its defense strategy.