Good morning,
Today is the last Foreign Affairs Council of the year and we have a long agenda, with all the hot spots. Certainly, the most important one is the situation in Ukraine, with the military build-up of the Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, but also we will have to talk about Varosha and the situation in Cyprus, Afghanistan, Central Asia.
This is going to be [in a way] the continuation of the G7. We had the G7 and there was a strong agreement, in order to have a strong stand behind Ukraine, defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are going to discuss it with the Minister today, we are on the deterring-mode, on the dissuasion mode in order to avoid the crisis to start. But in any case we will send a clear signal that any aggression against Ukraine will have a high cost for Russia, if it happens. But, now, we are trying to do our best in order to prevent this from happening.
Afghanistan is another concern, and Belarus. Yesterday we had a meeting with the civil society and the opposition from Belarus. The Commission announced €30 more million in order to support them. And we continue supporting these people, encouraging and admiring their capacity, their resistance, their will to continue fighting for the freedom of their people.
Q&A
Q. [Inaudible] … on Russia … what kind of sanctions do you prepare?
We are not going to take any concrete decision today about sanctions. We are studying, together with the United States and the United Kingdom, which they [the sanctions] could be, when and how, in a coordinated manner. But do not expect today decisions about it.
Q. [Inaudible]… will there be an EU boycott of the Winter Olympics?
I am sorry. The Council just starts in some minutes. Do not intend to make me explain to you what is going to happen. You have to wait for the press conference.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-215774