European diplomat Josep Borrell on Monday said that the European Union (EU) will not follow the US into withdrawing its diplomats’ families from Ukraine. Borrell said that while talks with Russia continue there is no need to ‘dramatise’ the situation.
“We are not going to do the same thing because we don’t know any specific reasons,” Borrell was quoted as saying by news agency AFP. His comments come before he meets US secretary of state Antony Blinken. He also said that he hopes Blinken will share ‘any extra information’ which led to the US calling back its envoys’ families’. The US earlier in the day asked its diplomats to send back their families and asked non-essential embassy staff to return to the US. It also said that evacuation will become tougher as it fears an imminent Russian invasion in Ukraine.
Blinken will brief his EU counterparts today on the discussion he held with Russian foreign minister Lavrov earlier on Friday.
The UK however on Monday said that it will withdraw some staff and their relatives from its embassy in Ukraine, according to a separate report by the AFP. It highlighted that the embassy will remain open for essential work.
“Some embassy staff and dependents are being withdrawn from Kyiv in response to (the) growing threat from Russia. The British embassy remains open and will continue to carry out essential work,” the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a release.
The move by the US drew criticism from an embattled Ukrainian government. Ukraine foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko, echoing similar concerns like EU’s Borrell, called the move a display of excessive caution. “We consider such a step by the American side premature and a display of excessive caution,” Nikolenko said in a statement. He also highlighted that in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia separatists have been locked in conflict with the Ukraine army, there has been no radical changes.
Nikolenko said that while efforts are being made to sow panic among Ukrainians and foreigners it is necessary to keep calm. “In this situation it is important to soberly assess the risks and keep calm,” Nikolenko added.
The tensions between US, NATO, the UK and other allies and Russia is expected to increase as the Biden administration is mulling sending thousands of troops to eastern Europe and the Baltic nations to bolster Ukraine’s response to Russia’s possible incursion bid.
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