Brussels, 12/01/2022
As agreed during the latest contacts between EU High Representative Josep Borrell and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the EU and US continue to advance their close cooperation and coordination to confront common security challenges. In the framework of these joint efforts, European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met to discuss Russia’s military build-up in and around Ukraine and related diplomatic efforts, in Brussels on Wednesday.
This follows previous contacts between High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as well as Deputy Secretary Sherman’s debrief to the EU Political and Security Committee in Brussels on Tuesday on the US-Russia talks in Geneva earlier this week.
Secretary-General Sannino and Deputy Secretary Sherman reiterated that the EU and the US stand together for shared principles and values. They reconfirmed EU and U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and emphasised the need for Russia to de-escalate and fully implement the Minsk agreements.
Secretary-General Sannino and Deputy Secretary Sherman underlined that any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe cost.
They discussed the bilateral and multilateral diplomatic engagements following the proposals presented by the Russian Federation on the security arrangements in Europe.
The EU and US remain in close contact and continue their interactions at various levels as part of an enduring partnership and shared commitment to Transatlantic security and cooperation.