A new European Union discussion paper on concessions Russia should make in Ukraine talks, seen by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, includes a demand that Moscow withdraw its troops from neighboring countries, including Georgia, as part of a broader settlement to end the war in Ukraine.
Titled European Core Interests in Ensuring a Comprehensive, Just and Lasting Peace and Continent’s Security, the paper calls for a “ban of Russian military presence and deployments in Belarus, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Armenia,” RFE/RL Europe editor Rikard Jozwiak wrote in his weekly newsletter.
Russian forces have been stationed for decades in Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), as well as in Transdniester in Moldova, Armenia, and Belarus.
The paper reportedly stresses that if Ukraine is expected to limit troop numbers or withdraw forces from some areas – as discussed in U.S.-mediated talks – Russia should do the same. It also says there should be no formal recognition of occupied Ukrainian territories, reflecting the EU’s long-standing non-recognition policy that also applies to Georgia’s occupied regions.
It further urges Russia to stop disinformation, sabotage, cyberattacks, airspace violations, and election interference in Europe and neighboring countries – issues that have often affected Georgia.
According to Jozwiak, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas has already shared the paper with member states. In addition to troop withdrawals, it calls on Russia to pay reparations and take steps toward democratizing its society. The bloc’s foreign ministers may discuss parts of the paper in Brussels on February 23.
Neither the EU nor individual European countries have taken part in the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. The paper, however, emphasizes that there can be no peace or security “without the EU at the negotiating table and without taking into account [the] EU’s core interests.”
