Brussels, 19 Feb. European Union foreign ministers will tomorrow discuss with their Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, continued EU support for his country to defend against Russia in the week that marks one year after the invasion, and plan to give the green light to more sanctions against Iran for the repression of the population.
At a Council meeting in Brussels, ministers will also discuss how they can help strengthen Moldova’s resilience to Russian pressure during a working lunch with their deputy prime minister and foreign affairs chief. and European integration, Nicu Popescu.
UKRAINE
First, ministers will attend a working breakfast hosted by Poland and Lithuania with former world chess champion and Russian opponent Garri Kasparov, European sources said.
Ministers will then talk to Kuleba, who will come to the Council in person and brief them firsthand on his country’s needs and the situation on the ground in the face of the offensive Russia is expected to launch this spring.
The European ministers will review the aid provided to finance the armament of Ukraine via the European Peace Support Fund (FEAP), which already amounts to 3,600 million euros, as well as the development of the community mission which plans to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers – among other aspects, in handling the Leopard tanks which will be donated by European countries.
In this sense, ministers could address the proposal that Estonia has put on the table for EU countries to jointly purchase ammunition for Ukraine, just as they did with vaccines during the pandemic, an idea that the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, “considers a good idea to explore”, according to European sources.
But they will also talk about the tenth package of sanctions against Russia with a view to concluding their negotiation so that it can be approved on Friday 24, during the celebration of the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
The EU intends to sanction around 100 Russian people, as well as introduce new restrictions on the export of “multiple electronic components” necessary in Russian weapons systems, such as drones, missiles and helicopters,
In this way, in addition to the sanctions approved so far, Brussels will have vetoed “all the technological products that have been found on the battlefield”, according to the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, who has estimated the value of the new package at 11,000 million euros.
NEW SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN
Ministers also plan to approve a fifth round of sanctions against Iran following the authorities’ crackdown on anti-regime protesters since the death of young Mahsa Amini for improperly wearing a headscarf last September.
The meeting will also discuss the situation in Afghanistan, in particular after the Taliban government’s decision to ban women from working in NGOs, whose work is important for channeling EU humanitarian aid to the Asian country.
A question that the ministers will discuss with the UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohamed, who will participate by videoconference.
“The Taliban are not a monolithic block. There are internal divisions and in this ban on women working in NGOs, in foreign embassies, there have been some exceptions in certain sectors or in different provinces (of the country We are working on these possibilities”, specifies a European source.