Rebecca Harms: if Russia Wants International Isolation, it Will Get it

Kyiv, 28 March, 2014 – European Union is standing firm on the intention to impose further sanctions on the RF if Russian aggression goes on, assured Rebecca Harms, EU Parliamentary, at the briefing in the Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “Russia is going into complete international isolation, like in the times of the Cold War, unless they stop provoking the conflict”, she affirmed.

Rebecca Harms, Co-chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, a member of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, agreed that decision-making process in the EU “may sometimes be slow”, as it requires the vote of all 28 members, but the last Summit in Brussels proved how united and firm Europe’s position is. “If European Union is not able to act on this [re Russian aggression] situation, it is giving away the values and the ideas that it is standing on”, she concluded.

The EU Parliamentary stressed that the way to democracy is an enduring process and Ukraine hasn’t become a full-fledged democratic state overnight, Euromaidan is just the point of departure. “Ukraine should carry the passion and patience of Euromaidan further on to build democracy, and it’s a hell of a job. There’s no miracle in democratic functioning, it’s a process. But if you give up democratic rules it will be a problem”, she underlined. According to Rebecca Harms, Euromaidan was very democratic in its essence, and now the principal task of the government is to direct the political process in the country into the legal and democratic framework. “I appeal to the parties who want to see democratic changes in Ukraine: criticize the actions of the new government and take part  in the process of building a new country, but don’t do it in the anti-democratic and anti-Ukrainian way, like it was done yesterday”, – underscored the EU Parliamentary.

Rebecca Harms also noted that potential conflict between Ukrainians and Russians is the worst scenario Putin is staking on: “Putin is trying to fuel the conflict between the two nations, and the only way for Ukraine to win is to refuse it”.

Rebecca Harms – German politician, Co-chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, a member of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

Watch video [icon icon=’Icomoon/icomoon-youtube-2′]