The European Union has agreed, for the first time in its history, to organize and finance, with 500 million euros, the supply of weapons in a war in a third countryin this case the one waged by Ukraine against the Russian invader.
“We have decided to use our capabilities to give weapons, lethal weapons, lethal assistance to the Ukrainian Army, worth 450 million support packageand 50 million more for non-lethal supplies, such as fuel and protective equipment,” announced the EU’s high representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, at a press conference at the end of a video conference of community ministers in the field.
Ministers reached a political agreement to use the European Peace Facility (EFF) to finance mostly lethal but also non-lethal military equipment and medical supplies in support of Ukraine. That fund, which began operating in 2021 and which in seven years it will have 5,000 million eurosis outside the community budget and is nourished by contributions from the Member States.
The ministers have also agreed to sanction another twenty oligarchs, politicians and senior company managers who support the regime of the Russian presidentVladimir Putin, as well as closing EU airspace to Russian flights.
Likewise, they agreed exclude several Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank payment systemas well as formalize the paralysis of transactions with the Central Bank of Russia and veto the broadcasts of pro-Russian media such as Russia Today or Sputnik, accused of spreading disinformation and “toxic” messages.
For her part, the President of the European Commission (EU), Ursula von der Leyen, stated that Ukraine is “one of us and we want them with us” in the European Union, although it has not set a specific horizon.
The measures will be legally adopted in the next few hours, in written procedure -since the meeting of ministers today by videoconference is informal- and will then enter into force as soon as they are published in the Official Journal of the EU.
These measures still need to comply with the formal procedure for them to be legally adopted, what Borrell has said will happen in “hours” and it will “greatly affect” the Russian economic system. “More than half of the reserves of the Russian Central Bank will be frozen,” he stressed, after pointing out that the measure will come into force this Monday before the financial markets open.
Before the videoconference with the ministers, Borrell already warned that “another taboo had fallen” that the European Union does not provide weapons in a war because “this war needs the commitment (of the EU) to support the Ukrainian Army”.
“We live in unprecedented times, as it happened in a pandemic. We face the plague of war as in the times of the Bible,” said the head of European diplomacy before stressing that this will be “the first time in history that the EU will provide lethal material to a third country.”
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has recorded a message to express European support for Ukraine and recognition of the courage of Ukrainians who “heroically” defend their freedom and democracy, while confirming that the EU is working to organize “the emergency delivery of defensive military equipment”. “Weapons, ammunition, rockets and fuel are on their way to your troops,” Michel said.
Source: Lasexta
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