The EU’s top diplomat on Friday slammed Russia’s latest blitz on Ukraine as “unacceptable”, saying the 27-nation bloc was pondering a new raft of sanctions against Moscow.
Russia has pummelled Ukraine this week with the largest drone and missile barrages since Moscow sent troops into its neighbour more than three years ago.
“Russia has increased its attacks against civilians to really cause as much pain… and that’s unacceptable,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
Brussels was considering an 18th round of sanctions against Moscow and “we are also still in negotiations to put the oil price cap on, that would deprive Russia from the means to fund this war,” Kallas told AFP in an interview.
Kallas was speaking on the sidelines of a regional meeting of foreign ministers in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, saying her presence was aimed at “doing outreach so that we can put more pressure together” on Russia.
Asked about reported claims that Moscow was planning to involve military personnel from Laos to bolster its efforts in Ukraine, Kallas said she raised the issue with Vientiane’s top diplomat in a meeting on Friday.
Kallas said she was assured that Laos had “no intention or willingness” to send military help to Russia.
“I also expressed that it has consequences for European aid to Laos if something like this is happening,” Kallas said.
“If you (Laos) contribute to that existential threat, we can’t have good cooperation,” she warned.
– ‘Working very hard’ –
Kallas’ remarks came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had “frank” talks on the Ukraine war during a meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN.
Rubio said Lavrov had shared new ideas on resolving the conflict, which he promised to present to US President Donald Trump, but played down the prospect of a breakthrough.
US tariffs have also overshadowed the ASEAN gathering.
Asked whether she would meet Rubio to discuss Washington’s tariff plans for Brussels, Kallas said “we didn’t have a chance to interact.”
“Our trade team is working very hard to come up with the solution and also to have agreements.”
“But we are not there yet,” she said.
The EU was hoping to strike a trade deal with Washington “in the coming days”, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
If the EU does not clinch an agreement with the United States, higher tariffs will return and risk unleashing a bitter trade war.
The EU expected Trump to keep a 10-percent baseline tariff on EU goods with exemptions for critical sectors like airplanes, spirits and cosmetics, European diplomats told AFP this week.
Also at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was Australia’s top diplomat Penny Wong, who equally condemned Russia’s latest attacks.
“We want the conflict resolved on Ukrainian terms, and we want to see Russia reflect on the position it is taking, which is in breach of international law,” Wong told a news conference.
Following this week’s overnight strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged allies to quickly roll out fresh sanctions against Moscow.
