Press release on rising tension in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine and possible NATO expansion

Relations between Russia on the one hand and the United States, the EU and NATO on the other have come to unprecedented levels of tension in recent years. This arises from Ukraine’s prospects of integration into the “Western” security architecture. Russia means to maintain control of what it considers to be its sphere of influence and sees the possibility of Ukraine’s membership of NATO as a red line and the betrayal of Europe’s security agreements of the 1990s. Thus, since December 2021, Russia has deployed 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine and has threatened military action if it does not receive guarantees that membership will never take place. Russia is making these threats after having invaded and de facto annexing the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008, and the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014, and has been waging a proxy war in the Ukrainian Donbas region.

With around 50% of its population being Russian-speaking and 20% considering themselves ethnic Russians, Ukraine is considered by Russia to be the birthplace of the Russian homeland arising from the old Kievan Rus (860-1240). The present borders of modern Ukraine were in fact set on the basis of Russian territorial cessions, seeing it as a satellite state or territory. However, this cannot justify Putin’s coercion through military threats and hybrid attacks on the sovereignty of Ukraine, a sovereign state with every right to decide on whatever strategic alliances it choses to make.

However, it is also true that initiatives aiming at hastening Ukraine’s eventual membership of NATO have also contributed to rising tensions, warranting Russia’s arguments to justify the presence of troops at the border.

Given the real possibility of armed conflict, all parties must prioritize diplomacy as a route to defuse the situation and to reach agreements that will be acceptable to all and complied with over time. The mobilization of troops and weapons by both sides will only increase the chances of an armed conflict— irresponsibly—at the doorstep of the European Union. Given the gravity and complexity of the situation, it is precisely the EU that must claim its place as a relevant and independent international actor and contribute as a bloc to lasting peace in the region.

Esquerra Republicana therefore:

1. Urges all parties to initiate de-escalation of tension and demilitarization of the Russian-Ukrainian border.
2. Requests a greater effort of diplomacy by all parties—including the EU, which has regrettably been too absent—to take into account the different interests and to seek to maintain peace and permanent stabilization of the region.
3. Urges the US and its allies to halt any action aiming at Ukraine joining NATO, as an immediate contribution to the de-escalation of present tension, and to propose other forms of cooperation in the short term that do not include full membership.
4. Urges that mediation in and the subsequent monitoring of any agreements reached should be carried out by both the United Nations and the OSCE as neutral parties.
5. Urges prioritization of human rights before any escalation of the conflict.
6. Calls on the parties to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine and to refrain from making threats and interfering in Ukraine’s decisions as an independent state.
7. Urges the Spanish government not to take part in any hostile escalation, and to under take any response along with the European Union. We strongly oppose the Spanish government’s announcement to send naval assets to the Black Sea as well as the possible deployment of the air force in Bulgaria.
8. Defends greater European integration that allows for a true common foreign policy as well as progress towards European defence that will allows the Union to have its own autonomous voice in international politics.