New EU Parliament resolution urges Russia to withdraw troops from Ukrainian border
The European Parliament on Dec. 16 adopted a resolution calling on Russia to immediately pull back its military forces from the Ukrainian border.
“The European Parliament condemns the large Russian military buildup near Ukraine,” the resolution reads, according to a report by the EU Parliament press service.
“MEPs demand that the government in Moscow withdraw its forces and stop threatening a neighboring country,” the resolution continues.
EU lawmakers also added that the Russian military buildup threatened not only to Ukraine but also the rest of the world.
The European Parliament said it acknowledged Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and said Ukraine’s membership of the alliance must not be subject to Kremlin approval.
The resolution also underlined that Russia would “pay a high economic and political price for any aggression.”
The newly adopted document also expresses full support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally acknowledged borders.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov reported to parliament on the military situation on Dec. 3. Russia has about 100,000 troops deployed on Ukraine’s border and in the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, he told MPs.
A number of U.S. and EU officials have voiced concern over the situation on Ukraine’s eastern border. G7 foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Dec.12, warning Russia of severe consequences and costs that would come in response to military aggression against Ukraine.
Earlier, during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Dec.7, U.S. President Joe Biden also “made clear that the United States and its allies would respond with strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation, the White House said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said that during his phone conversation with Biden on Dec. 9 he had been assured by Biden that Russia was not planning a further escalation of its war in Ukraine.
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