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Posted On

18
November
2021

Kuleba: Countries, institutions developing joint plan to contain Russia

KYIV. Nov 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba announced cooperation between different countries and institutions to develop a comprehensive package of containment of Russia, which includes political, diplomatic and economic pressure.

"Last week there was a large Ukrainian delegation in Washington, this week I was in Brussels, and we mobilized key Euro-Atlantic partners in both capitals to support Ukraine. Work is underway between different capitals and institutions to develop a comprehensive package of containing Russia. It includes political and diplomatic pressure, painful economic blows in case of expansion of Russian aggression and a list of specific needs to strengthen the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Kuleba said at an online briefing on Thursday.

He said that during his visit to Brussels, he held talks with the leadership of NATO and the EU, heads of diplomacy of the EU countries, ministers of the Associated Trio, ministers of the Normandy format, but without the Russian side, and also took part in a meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU and Eastern Partnership states.

"But the key topic was the issue of Ukraine’s security. Talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were essential. We discussed the security situation, joint counteraction to hybrid threats from Russia. The Secretary General invited me to take part in the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Riga on November 30 to December 1. This is an important sign of the Alliance’s confidence in Ukraine, the special status of our relations, because we are one of NATO’s closest partners in the Black Sea region," the minister said.

He said the aggressiveness of Russia both in the diplomatic and in the military directions has grown significantly in recent weeks.

"But Ukraine is already actively consolidating partners to counter hybrid threats. This is exactly the order of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, and he directs our efforts to strengthen Ukraine and ensure the support of our state from partners. I want to emphasize that strengthening the security of Ukraine is not an abstract concept. We are talking about the security of every citizen. We, Ukrainian diplomats, are strengthening security in three areas: allies, sanctions, weapons," Kuleba said.

According to him, we are talking about political support for Ukraine from key Euro-Atlantic partners, increasing diplomatic and sanctions pressure on the aggressor state, reaching agreements on the supply of additional defense weapons for the Ukrainian army.

"My talks in the United States last week and in the EU and NATO this week were aimed exactly at this. And we returned with the result we need at the moment," the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said.