BRUSSELS, February 8. /TASS/. The European Union believes that Russia’s purpose is not to invade Ukraine, but to put pressure on Kiev in order to trigger a review of European security architecture, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell told reporters in the US on Tuesday.
"The important thing for Russia is not Ukraine. The important thing for Russia is the architecture of security in Europe, the contested architecture. They have security concerns, and they want to talk about it," he said.
"The purpose is not to invade Ukraine. They put pressure on Ukraine in order to obtain sitting and talking about something that for them is important, the enlargement of NATO and the security concerns they have," Borrell continued. "We have to take into account the concerns of Russia and to talk about it."
He added that European Union, the United States and NATO were engaged in a dialogue with Russia at various levels.
Macron’s visit
The EU foreign policy chief welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to Moscow, describing it as "a good initiative." It "was needed" that a European leader visited Moscow, Borrell continued, adding that France currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Council.
"It represents an element of detente," he said.
The diplomat did not give a clear answer to whether Kiev should be pushed to implement the Minsk agreements, but called for continuation of the Normandy format dialogue.
Concerns over Moscow’s alleged preparations for an invasion into Ukraine have been increasingly announced in the West and in Kiev recently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these statements as an empty and groundless escalation of tension, emphasizing that Russia posed no threat to anyone. At the same time, the Kremlin press secretary did not exclude some possible provocations to justify such claims and warned that the attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict by force would carry extremely serious consequences.