The president of the European Commission announced on Tuesday that the European Union will strengthen sanctions against Belarus for its support for Russia in its military aggression against Ukraine and defended sending advanced military equipment to the Ukrainian army.
At a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Council President Charles Michel on the occasion of the signing of the Third Joint Declaration on Cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the Atlantic Alliance , Ursula von der Leyen assured that the community bloc “will keep up the pressure on the Kremlin” [Presidência russa]and imposes sanctions on regimes that support the Russian invasion.
“We are going to pressurize the Kremlin with the harsh sanctions regime and we are going to extend these sanctions to those who militarily support Russia’s war, cases of Belarus and Iran,” said von der Leyen, specifying that in the Minsk case the Commission will soon introduce new sanctions in response to Belarus’ role “in this Russian war in Ukraine”.
To questions about the ongoing debate in several European countries about sending heavy military equipment to Ukraine, as alleged by Kiev, which has been asking for tanks for some time, especially in light of the intensification of Russian attacks in the east of its territory, von der Leyen noted that he has often said that “Ukraine must be given all the military equipment it needs” to repel Russian aggression.
“And this means, of course, advanced air defense systems, but also other types of advanced military equipment, as long as they are needed to defend Ukraine,” he said, adding that the Ukrainian armed forces should be well equipped as they are. also defending “the fundamental principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the United Nations and international law”.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
