Brussels, Feb 20 : President of the European Council Charles Michel said on Sunday that the European Union cannot forever offer an “olive branch” to Moscow, when it allegedly conducts missile tests and amasses troops at the border with Ukraine. “We cannot forever offer an ‘olive branch’ while Russia conducts missile tests and continues to amass troops,” Michel said at the Munich Security conference during the session titled “Unmute Yourself: European Foreign and Security Policy and the Language of Power.” In the past few months, the West and Ukraine have accused Russia of amassing troops near the Ukrainian border in alleged preparation for invasion. Russia has insisted that it has no intention of invading Ukraine, while stressing that it has the right to move its forces within its own territory.
Russia has also expressed concerns over NATO military activity near its borders and ongoing military support of Ukraine, including an increase in the number of Western instructors in the breakaway Donbas region. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow is not excluding that the “hysteria” around Ukraine fueled by the West is aimed at concealing Kiev’s plans to sabotage the Minsk Agreements on Donbas.
