Alwaght-The European Union’s foreign policy chief has insisted that EU will not be pressured into a confrontation with Russia over Ukraine, resisting US-led calls for supplying arms to Kiev, as Press TV reported .
“The European Union today is extremely realistic about developments in Russia. But we will never be trapped or forced or pushed or pulled into a confrontative [sic] attitude,” said Federica Mogherini in a Friday press briefing following an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Riga, Latvia .
“We still believe that around our continent – not only in but around – cooperation is far better than confrontation. We still argue for that,” she was quoted as saying in a Saturday report by RT .
Meanwhile, the Germany-based news magazine Der Spiegel said the government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel suspects the US and NATO are attempting to derail the EU’s mediation efforts in Ukraine .
According to the report, Germany has been among the most vocal critics of supplying arms to Ukraine as German authorities have challenged the assessment of the Ukrainian situation, saying it is exaggerated by Kiev armament pundits .
“The statements [on Ukraine] from our source do not fully coincide with the statements made by NATO and the US,” said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier following the Latvia event.“We are interested in not allowing it to grow into a misunderstanding .”
Meanwhile, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said that the EU’s objective in Ukraine is “a ceasefire, not an escalation .”
A ceasefire pact between Ukrainian government and pro-Russian forces in the east of the country was brokered last month by Germany, France, and Russia .
The truce deal appears to be holding as the warring parties have reportedly pulled some of their heavy weapons back from the frontlines and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has reported a major reduction in violence .
Both sides claim arm withdrawals
The Ukrainian army announced on Saturday that it has completed its withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine in compliance with the truce pact .
Kiev’s Army Spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the move is in coordination with the February 15 peace deal, dubbed Minsk II .
Earlier, pro-Russia forces declared that they have completely pulled back their weaponry from the conflict zones while accusing the Ukrainian government of not living up to commitments .
Meanwhile, the prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic Aleksandr Zakharchenko stated that they removed all their mortars from the town of Snizhne in the presence of six international monitors .
The Minsk agreement calls for both sides to create a buffer zone by pulling back all their heavy weaponry. Saturday was the deadline for completing the arms withdrawal. Both sides have agreed to remove their heavy weapons to create a buffer zone of between 50 and 140 kilometers .
The two mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have been hit by deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April last year to crush pro-Russia protests there .
In May 2014, the situation in the two-flashpoint regions started to worsen as residents overwhelmingly voted for independence from Ukraine in referendums .
The fighting has taken a heavy toll on thousands of people. More than 6,000 people have been killed and nearly 15,000 injured in the conflict, the UN says. Around 1.5 million people have also been forced from their homes over the past months of the turmoil .
