Borrell: Without implementation of ‘Minsk’, EU-Russia relations will not normalize

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated this at a press conference following the seventh meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels, when asked by an Ukrinform correspondent about the situation in Donbas, in particular on the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements, mainly on the desire from the Russian side to fulfill them.

“I spent hours yesterday in the European Parliament talking about it. During my meetings with Minister [of Foreign Affairs of Russian, Sergei] Lavrov it was clear that we [the European Union] defend Ukrainian sovereignty, [its] territorial integrity; that we talked about the human rights violations on the Crimean peninsula; and clear, we requested the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements, which is a strong condition in the relationship between the European Union and Russia. This was high in the agenda, we discussed a lot. I am not going to go into the details, but as far as the Minsk agreements are not being fulfilled, the normalisation of the relations between the European Union and Russia will not happen,” Borrell said.

The diplomat noted that at a meeting with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, he reassured of the European Union’s unwavering support and commitment to Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

“This is a message that I also passed in my meeting last week to Foreign Minister Lavrov, including the need to fulfil and implement the Minsk agreements. You know very well that the European Union does not recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol. We will continue to fully support the diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Borrell also stressed that the EU would continue to support the efforts in the Normandy format, the Trilateral Contact Group and in the OSCE format. According to Borrell, the duration of EU economic sanctions against Russia remains linked to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Ukrainian government delegation led by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal paid a three-day working visit to Brussels from February 9 to February 11. Government representatives met with the leadership of the European Union and NATO.

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