Europe Moves to Break Away from US on Ukraine

As Washington moves closer to Moscow, Brussels is increasing pressure on Russia.

According to Ambassador Arjan, Hamburger newspaper Abend Blatt wrote in an article pointing out that Europe is tightening its policy towards Russia in the war against Ukraine: while US President Donald Trump is finalizing the oil agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the European Union is increasing pressure on Russia. The question here is whether the Europeans will resist in this direction?

According to Ambassador Arjan, after the controversial oil agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Germany and the European Union have now adopted a completely opposite position to Washington. In the meantime, unlike Trump, Europe is clearly increasing the pressure on Russia and is committed to providing more support to Ukraine, which has recently been under pressure from Trump.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg decided on the most significant sanctions to date against Putin's war economy.

Accordingly, 1,600 individuals and companies directly or indirectly involved in the Russian war effort were added to the sanctions list. This round of sanctions brings the total number of individuals and entities subject to travel bans and asset freezes to nearly 4,500.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadfull stressed that the measures, which include those targeting drone manufacturers, are also a response to Russia's increasingly coordinated attacks on EU member states, particularly the attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle airport.

"We will increase the pressure until Putin is ready to seriously negotiate for peace in Ukraine," Wadfull said. The message is clear: Russia cannot and will not win this war."

Kaya Callas, the European Union's foreign policy official, has clearly stated that this decision should be seen as a sign against the oil agreement between Trump and Putin.

Callas and many EU foreign ministers criticized Trump's decision as sending the wrong signal.

Callas said the suspension of sanctions would provide Moscow with additional revenue to finance its war.

"If we want to end this war, we can only do it by putting more pressure on Russia," he said.

Foreign ministers also discussed plans to limit visas for Russian tourists and limit the freedom of movement of Russian diplomats within the EU.

Yet despite the determination shown, EU diplomats worry that Trump's new approach could undermine aid to Kiev in the Ukraine war. A major part of the aid budget to Ukraine is currently under the responsibility of European countries. However, so far the Europeans have also been able to use this money to buy weapons from America, which are then delivered to Ukraine.

According to diplomats, Trump has now threatened to end such organized NATO support as well as intelligence if Ukraine's attacks on Russian refineries continue.

Ukraine is particularly dependent on American weapons such as the Patriot missile defense system to defend against missile attacks.