EU, Russia, Ukraine: the end of "abnormal" relations?
Last Sunday, voices from Europe almost lovingly reported that it was time for the EU, Russia and Ukraine to return to the “normal" temperature of relations. In the government of Finland they generally said that Russians should be viewed from the positive side. The very same warm words came from Germany: Angela Merkel believes that the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis should not harm Russia.
As transmits RIA News", on Sunday, Austrian President Heinz Fischer said that relations between the EU, Russia and Ukraine should "return to normal temperatures."
Speaking at the opening of the political division of the European Forum Alpbach in Tirol, Mr. Fischer said: “I hope that Russia will not take steps in the future that will be perceived as a provocation, and relations between the EU, Russia and Ukraine should return to normal temperatures” .
According to him, the meeting of the EU, Russia and Ukraine should be held on an equal footing: “It is necessary to meet on an equal footing and to talk seriously about security interests.”
To this, Fisher added that in politics one must “be able to turn the chessboard over and think with the partner’s head”.
On the same day a voice came from Finland.
Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb gave an interview to Yle TV and Radio Company, in which he urged to look at Russia and the Russians from the positive side.
The fact is that some Russian residents of Finland, due to the Ukrainian crisis, began to speak more quietly in public places. These people are afraid of a negative reaction.
“You cannot blame Russian culture, Finnish Russians, or Russian language for the actions of the Russian government. We need to build a society in which no national minority, including Russians, would be subjected to discrimination, ”Stubba quotes. RIA News".
According to Stubb, if he was now offered to study another foreign language, he would choose Russian. The prime minister recalled that in Finland there are about twenty thousand people with dual Finnish and Russian citizenship and more than sixty thousand people whose first language is Russian.
A press statement from France appeared in the press. Its author is Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
The fact that France is open to dialogue with Russia, Monsieur Fabius told the world community through an interview given to Figaro.
“As for Ukraine and Russia, our position remains the same: firmness and dialogue,” the channel quoted Fabius as saying. "RT".
The minister added that “no one in his right mind can offer to fight with Russia, forgetting about stories and geography.
The head of the French Foreign Ministry also noted that Ukraine "should have the opportunity to be in good relations with both neighboring Russia and the European Union, which is also a neighbor."
The code in this European play was performed by Angela Merkel.
According to her, Ukraine’s exit from the political crisis should be safe for Russia. Merkel said this in an interview with the television company ARD, returning from Kiev from a meeting with Poroshenko.
“I would like the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis not to harm Russia,” the Merkel channel quotes "RT". The Federal Chancellor believes that Ukraine and Europe want to maintain a “trusting relationship” with Moscow.
According to Merkel, the only way out of this situation is negotiations. Yes, the planned negotiations in Minsk are unlikely to be a “decisive breakthrough” in solving the problem, but they are necessary. According to her, the Ukrainian crisis will be resolved only with the help of a political solution: “I am convinced that the Ukrainian crisis can only have a political solution, which the European Union and Germany can contribute to, including. There is no military, aggressive solution to the problem, dialogue, political negotiations are necessary as soon as possible. ”
Channel "InoTV" cites other words of the Federal Chancellor.
The West cannot offer NATO membership for Ukraine, Angela Merkel told ARD. According to her, the emphasis is on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, on that “so that the voices of all Ukrainians are heard,” however, they will not offer NATO membership to Ukraine.
In the meantime, Russia is counting on the fact that NATO will enlighten Ukraine - in the person of Poroshenko, of course. At the same time, the alliance should "rationalize" itself.
As transmits RIA News"Moscow hopes that the North Atlantic Alliance will influence Kiev in order to achieve the fulfillment of the Berlin Declaration and the Geneva Declaration. This 23 August, said the Foreign Ministry.
The statement was connected primarily with a humanitarian convoy.
"Among the numerous fables that sound from Western capitals in connection with the delivery of Russian humanitarian aid to the south-east of Ukraine, attention was drawn to the statement by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen that the entry of our humanitarian convoy allegedly violates Moscow’s international obligations, taken in Berlin and Geneva, ”the agency comments on the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
But after all, it is precisely the fulfillment of the Geneva statement that Moscow demands from Kiev, and “above all in regard to Kiev’s commitment to ensure an inclusive, transparent and accountable constitutional process”.
And not without irony, it is emphasized that neither in the Geneva Statement of Russia, the European Union, the USA and Ukraine of 17 in April, nor in the Berlin Declaration of the Russian Federation, Germany, France and Ukraine of 2 in July, "the theme of humanitarian assistance is not mentioned at all." Well, and a summary: "Therefore, the speech of the head of NATO would not hurt to get acquainted with these documents before bringing the charges."
Let us hope that NATO's unfortunate hacks and the most important commander in NATO will read at least a few paragraphs from the provisions of the documents they so zealously defend in the international arena. And not only will they read it, but they will retell what Mr Poroshenko read, which enlightenment would also benefit.
Maybe then all these actors of the geopolitical theater will understand why the officials of Austria, Finland, France and Germany, despite their busyness, suddenly pulled in large numbers on newspapers and on television channels on Sunday in order to tell their people that they should look at the Russians from the positive side.
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