Splits emerged in the European response to Russia’s actions in Syria as British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson raised the possibility of more sanctions while his counterparts in Italy, France and Germany signaled reluctance to apply extra penalties.
Diplomatic activity has stepped up after Russia last week vetoed a French-drafted resolution that would have demanded an end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo. President Vladimir Putin has pledged that Russia won’t give in to “blackmail and pressure” over its military campaign in Syria and accused the U.S. and its allies of whipping up “anti-Russian hysteria.”
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who hosted a meeting with France’s Jean-Marc Ayrault and Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Rome on Wednesday, said in an interview with state-owned RAI radio that he was not convinced by proposals we hear for new sanctions against Russia. “We still hope that a minimum diplomatic channel can be reopened,” Gentiloni said on Thursday.
Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an end to the “massacre of the civilian population, women, children, hospitals” in Aleppo. “Our priority is not to enter a cycle of sanctions for sanctions’ sake,” on Russia, Ayrault told a joint news conference. “Our will is to push once more for a stop to the bombings.” He also urged the involvement of the United Nations Security Council, where Russia has routinely used its veto to shut down any action on Syria.
Germany’s Steinmeier, who has previously called for trust to be built with Russia, said “our moral credibility” was at stake. The German government signaled last week that it doesn’t back expanding economic sanctions on Russia over its involvement in the assault on Aleppo. “The priority for us is to do what’s needed to help people and to advance a cease-fire, on which so much depends,” Steffen Seibert, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman, told reporters on Friday.
The show of diplomatic unity from the three biggest economies in the euro region came as Putin called off a visit to Paris next week to open an Orthodox church because his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, would only meet with him to talk about Syria, where Russian warplanes are bombing to support the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Putin held a call with Hollande and Merkel on Wednesday amid speculation they may meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko next week to discuss the simmering conflict in Ukraine. Russia is already subject to U.S. and European Union sanctions over its military incursion into Ukraine.
“We must not indulge in the idea that the EU is a tap for sanctions and that sanctions resolve all problems,” Gentiloni said in the radio interview. “I don’t believe that Europe would ever agree on sanctions on the Syrian issue. It would only be a way of introducing new divisive elements into the EU.”
