The EU and the US hold a high-level meeting to address tensions with Russia in the context of the invasion of Ukraine

MADRID, March 31 (Royals Blue) –

The European Union and the United States have held a high-level meeting in Washington to address common defense and security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, especially China, and to address the deterioration of their relations with Russia in the framework of the invasion of Ukraine.

The Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, representing the United States, and the Undersecretary General for Political Affairs of the European External Action Service, Enrique Mora, for the European side, held this high-level meeting in Washington announced last month of June.

In this sense, the topics that have been discussed have focused on “strategic objectives”, as well as the political coordination mechanisms between the United States and the EU to “end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, as The US State Department has announced.

“Nuland and Mora welcomed the exceptional unity shown at the recent European Council, NATO Extraordinary Leaders’ Meeting and G7 Leaders’ Meeting. They condemned the Kremlin’s barbaric, unjustifiable and unprovoked war against Ukraine, also enabled by the Belarusian government,” he stressed.

He also reported that both parties “will work to track down reports of war crimes” against Russia. In this way, “they will share information collected with allies, partners, institutions and international organizations.”

The high-level meeting between the United States and the EU has focused on the implementation of “unprecedented” sanctions, as well as export control measures that seek to “further isolate” Russia from the international financial system “in order to impose severe costs to Moscow for its actions.

They have also welcomed the sanctions imposed by the various countries and have reiterated their commitment “to further expand the coalition” and strengthen its application to “hold the Russian Government to account”.

“They stressed the importance of insisting that China supports an immediate end to hostilities, the establishment of humanitarian corridors and the prevention of any risk of further escalation. They will continue to urge China not to circumvent or undermine sanctions against Russia and not to provide any kind of support to Russia,” he said in the statement.

Another point discussed during the meeting was political, financial, material and humanitarian support for Ukraine, as well as efforts “to counter Kremlin propaganda and misinformation and reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.”

“They also discussed their ongoing efforts to support democratic forces inside and outside Belarus in defending and promoting human rights, including freedom of expression, and free and fair elections under international observation,” he said.

The United States and the European Union agreed last June to establish a hotline to address rising tensions and deteriorating relations with Russia, in a high-level channel that follows the existing one on China.

This was announced after a meeting in Brussels between the President of the United States, Joe Biden, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Michel defended at a press conference, after the summit, the unity of action of the EU with respect to Russia, while claiming a “proactive strategy” together with the United States to promote values ​​against authoritarian regimes, a message that he transmitted to Biden hours before his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

“Relations with Russia are in a negative spiral. We would like to change this and move towards more predictive relations,” advocated Von der Leyen at the time, who asked to take advantage of opportunities for cooperation when possible.