EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell said that Russia would not disappear after the invasion of Ukraine, and therefore the EU will be forced to learn to coexist with Russia.
This was reported on the EU website.
Borrell believes that Europe needs to define a clear plan of contacts, which continues during the war.
"Russia will continue to exist after the peace talks, and it will be necessary to clearly define how we should coexist with it. This coexistence will be very difficult after what Russia has done in Ukraine. This is an invasion, this aggression, this is the destruction of Ukraine, we saw all this every night on TV, and I saw it on the ground. But we will still have to try to coexist with the Russians on this continent," Borrel said.
Regarding contacts, he noted that the EU should continue negotiations with Russia. He also cautiously supported the call of French President Emmanuel Macron "not to humiliate" Russia. "Itʼs not just Macron who says that. This expression embodies reality," Borrell said.
- On June 4, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was important that Russia not be humiliated so that a diplomatic solution could be found as soon as hostilities in Ukraine cease. Ukraine has stated that such statements humiliate Macron.
- Later, Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Bartosz Cichotski suggested that countries that speak of "preserving Putinʼs face" give up their territories to Russia. "Thoughts were voiced that someoneʼs face should be saved. Then let them give up their Brandenburg or the Pyrenees, "Tsikhotsky said.