Eastern European leaders are expressing concerns that Western officials will overlook Russia’s ongoing support to separatists in Ukraine amid efforts to partner with Moscow against the Islamic State terrorist group, Reuters reports.
France President Francois Hollande has called on the United States, Russia, and other Western nations to set aside their differences and join in a coalition against the Islamic State after the group claimed responsibility for a series of terrorist attacks last week in Paris. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is open to such collaboration on military operations.
However, the Baltic states and Poland fear that, as European countries partner with Russia in counterterrorism operations, they will ease sanctions on Moscow that are tied to its invasion of Ukraine. More than 8,000 people have died in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and separatists armed and financed by Russia.
Reuters reports:
European Union leaders say the sanctions, which are due for review at the end of January, can be removed only when all signatories to the ceasefire deal, including Russia, comply with its terms fully.
But Konrad Szymanski, Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of European Affairs, expressed the region's suspicions. "There has been—and not since today, I'm afraid—a short-term instinct to seek any good excuse to back down on the appropriate and proportional response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine," he told reporters.
Last Saturday, the Ukrainian military reported five of its soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours, its highest death toll since the fragile ceasefire began two months ago.
The guns have been mostly silent since early September, but there has been an increase in violations over the past few weeks, with both sides blaming the other.
The United States and other Western nations have so far denied requests from the Baltics to deter Russia by deploying permanent NATO troops in their countries.