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- A test diversion: The EU will step up attempts to disrupt the summit of the Russian Federation and the United States
A test diversion: The EU will step up attempts to disrupt the summit of the Russian Federation and the United States
Active preparations for the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are beginning. On October 20, Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with Marco Rubio, and in the coming days, the diplomats will discuss the details in person. Washington noticeably softened its rhetoric towards Moscow after another conversation between the leaders of the two countries. But Brussels is following the path of escalation and is preparing to impose new sanctions against Russia, creating a negative agenda ahead of the Budapest summit. The EU foreign ministers discussed a new, 19th package of restrictions in Luxembourg. The EU's attempts to prevent a settlement in the coming days will grow both quantitatively and qualitatively, Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy speaker of the Federation Council, told Izvestia.
The EU is trying to prevent the Budapest summit
The Russian-American dialogue is gaining momentum, and active preparations are now beginning for a new summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest. On October 20, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the diplomats will meet in person in the coming days. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted, there is a lot of "homework" to be done. According to some sources, a face-to-face meeting between Lavrov and Rubio will take place on Thursday.
Marco Rubio and Sergey Lavrov
— Of course, everyone is following the instructions given by the presidents. But such a full-scale "negotiation", teamwork to prepare the right conditions for the summit has not yet begun. It will start only now," said the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation.
In a conversation with the head of Russian diplomacy, the US Secretary of State stated the importance of cooperation between the United States and Russia in the interests of sustainable peace in Ukraine and upcoming settlement contacts, including a meeting between the presidents of the two countries. In this sense, the actions of another interested party to the Ukrainian conflict are indicative. While Moscow and Washington want to find a solution at the highest level, the EU is spreading anti-Russian hysteria, preparing to agree on new restrictions against Russia in the coming days.
The head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, claims that the next sanctions are being imposed in order to force Moscow to negotiate on the Ukrainian crisis. However, it is the representatives of Brussels who have so far not expressed a desire to start a dialogue with Moscow, unlike Washington.
— Without a doubt, the upcoming Russian-American summit is like a bone in the throat for the hawks in the European Union. And from the point of view of content, because it will focus on the prospects for normalization of bilateral relations (and the EU itself is not going to normalize relations with Russia), and on the conditions for ending the Ukrainian conflict, the prolongation of which for the EU is just an opportunity to contain our country. But not least because it can be held in Hungary, which European grandees despise and try to control by all means," Konstantin Kosachev, Vice Speaker of the Federation Council, told Izvestia.
It is important to note that the new, 19th package of measures has been agreed with the United States for the first time since Trump's return to the White House, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barraud said. This is how Brussels seeks to demonstrate to Washington its determination to increase pressure on Russia and force the United States to do the same — to impose large-scale sanctions.
— So attempts to interfere with the summit both politically, economically, logistically, and informationally by the EU will only multiply in the coming days, both quantitatively and qualitatively. However, these attempts will be of the lowest quality," Senator Kosachev said.
What may include the 19th package of sanctions
Meanwhile, the EU foreign ministers gathered in Luxembourg to discuss the 19th package of restrictions for the final time. The meeting was personally attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sibiga. Even before the meeting, the head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, hoped that the package would be accepted at the summit of the community on October 23-24. So, Brussels finally managed to get around the discontent of Austria, which insisted on compensation from Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) for the fine received in Russia.
However, there were no confident statements following the meeting. Callas mentioned that the ministers had not been able to fully agree on the next list of sanctions and restrictions would be discussed again directly at the summit. Obviously, the new package will hit the European economy even harder, and not all EU countries are ready to take this step.
The list of restrictions includes, in particular, a ban on the import of Russian LNG from January 1, 2027. It is also proposed to blacklist 118 more tankers that the authorities consider part of Russia's "shadow fleet" and ban transactions with Rosneft and Gazprom Neft. Moreover, on October 20, the EU Council approved a complete ban on the import of any gas, both pipeline and LNG, to EU countries from January 1, 2028, after giving two years to fulfill existing short- and long-term contracts. European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen stressed that the EU still buys more than 13% of all gas imports from Russia. However, the ban has yet to be finalized with the European Parliament.
Slovakia and Hungary have traditionally opposed this initiative. Thus, Bratislava has a long-term gas contract with Gazprom until 2034. Budapest also notes that abandoning gas from Russia will cost the country 4% of GDP, or $10 billion. On the evening of October 20, it became known that Hungary does not plan to block the 19th package of EU sanctions against Russia, as it has achieved the removal of measures that run counter to its interests.
By the way, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also said after the meeting in Luxembourg that the EU was trying to disrupt the upcoming summit between Putin and Trump, and his colleagues were "in a state of military psychosis." "European politicians continue to support prolonging the war. The slogan was also voiced today: "We need to send more money and weapons to Ukraine," Szijjarto said.
In particular, Poland reported on progress in negotiations on a "reparation loan" for Ukraine. We are talking about a large loan for Kiev of about 140 billion euros, the interest on which is supposed to be paid from the proceeds from frozen Russian assets in Europe. Thus, Brussels is trying to find a "legal way" to use funds belonging to the Russian Federation. However, the United States has notified European countries that it will not join this initiative yet, Bloomberg writes.
Brussels continues to disperse anti-Russian rhetoric not only with sanctions hysteria. The creation of a so-called drone wall remains on the agenda after a series of incidents involving drones in the airspace of a number of community countries. By the way, the project will cost the European economy at least $1 billion.
However, despite a number of restrictive packages, aggressive statements and actions, the EU continues to carefully avoid the main problem — the topic of Russian oil. According to the American leader, a decrease in its market value can stop the Ukrainian conflict. Therefore, Trump has repeatedly pointed out the double standards of the EU, which continues to buy oil from Russia, and even instructed the US permanent representative to NATO to increase pressure on Brussels in this matter. According to Jorgensen's statement following the meeting of EU foreign ministers, Brussels will continue to work on this ban.
Why has the United States softened its stance towards Russia again
The Europeans are increasing sanctions pressure against the background of another, but still unexpected, change in Washington's rhetoric. Recently, they have noticeably tightened their position towards Moscow, which suited Brussels perfectly: starting from Trump's resonant statements at the last session of the UN General Assembly on the return of territories to Ukraine and ending with reflections on the transfer of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kiev.
However, everything changed after the eighth telephone conversation between Putin and Trump on October 16. And it was he who, apparently, forced the US president to move away from a new tough position. Perhaps the main outcome of the conversation between the two leaders was actually Trump's refusal to supply this type of weapons. The head of the White House bluntly said that Putin "did not like" this idea. In a conversation with his American counterpart, he repeated his words that Tomahawk would not change the situation on the battlefield, but would only damage the prospects for a peaceful settlement and relations between Russia and the United States, the Kremlin said.
— The fact that Trump decided not to supply Zelensky with Tomahawk missiles is a good sign. Perhaps now he is starting to move in a different direction," American political analyst Jeremy Kuzmarov told Izvestia.
As a result, Vladimir Zelensky's subsequent visit to the White House did not bring any dividends to Kiev. Donald Trump only said that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict can be resolved without using Tomahawk, and missiles are needed primarily by the United States. According to sources, the meeting seemed tense in some places. According to Zelensky, representatives of the Trump team also demanded that Kiev withdraw from Donbass, and special envoy Steve Witkoff pointed out that these territories were assigned to the Russian Federation in its Constitution.
Brussels is concerned about President Trump's inconsistency in both his policy and statements regarding Moscow and is looking for a unified, unified position from the West, Said Khan, a professor at Wayne University in Detroit, told Izvestia.
"The EU would certainly like the United States to reinforce its harsh rhetoric with actions and join Europe's firm position on President Putin," the expert believes.
The leaders of the European NATO countries are increasingly desperate and trying to find a way to return Trump to the camp of supporters of war, so the introduction of new sanctions is a clear attempt to poison the atmosphere before the Budapest summit, Peter Kuznik, director of the Institute for Nuclear Research at the American University in Washington, professor of history, tells Izvestia.
— For now, the Europeans are trying to corner Trump by agreeing to his previous demands to stop importing energy from Russia. But I don't think the sanctions move will work to persuade him to support the NATO "warriors." However, it may become a key factor if the upcoming negotiations between Trump and Putin do not lead to progress, the expert believes.
But it seems that Trump still intends to find a diplomatic way out. This fits into the pragmatism of the head of the White House, emphasizes Oleg Karpovich, vice-rector of the Diplomatic Academy: continued pressure on Russia does not correspond to the desire of the American president to obtain the status of chief peacemaker.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
