PUTIN THREATENS TO INVADE EAST EU NATO NATIONS Literally Putin said to President Poroshenko: If I wanted to, in two days I could have Russian troops, not only in Kiev but also in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Warsaw and Bucharest. This is according to a summary discussion of the Foreign Service of the European Union, present in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Poroshenko told the EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso about this threat last Friday during his visit to Kiev. Putin has so far not threatened members of NATO and the EU with military force publicly. In a private phone conversation with Barroso Putin said, If I wanted to, I could take Kiev within two weeks. Barroso reported thus to nation leaders at the EU summit in late August. The Kremlin had subsequently criticized Barroso for making the contents of a private telephone conversation public. Poroshenko had several phone calls in the past few weeks with Putin to negotiate the ceasefire now in force in eastern Ukraine and to obtain the consent of the Kremlin bosses to a twelve-point plan for resolving the conflict. In the talks, he apparently has warned Poroshenko not to place undue reliance on the EU. Putin is reported to have said, that he could exert influence and bring about a blocking minority in the European Council, which prevents negative decisions for Russia in bilateral contacts. Perhaps the Kremlin chief was referring to then growing resistance in the Council against new sanctions. Several EU countries had last spoken against economic sanctions in the face of the armistice in Ukraine. Such decisions require unanimity. Countries such as Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Cyprus reluctantly agreed with the sanctions policy. The summary also shows that the shifted to January 2016 implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with the EU is in line with agreements Poroshenko made with Putin. Ukraine needs a peaceful solution to end the war that Russia had begun, Poroshenko said. For Putin, the association of Ukraine with the EU, is perhaps more important than the fate of Luhansk and Donetsk. With the ratification of the Association Agreement with EU, the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday also adopted a special status for the separatist-controlled areas. Translation of story by Daniel Brössler, from Brussels.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 10:18:43 +0000