Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg travelled to Brussels on 4 March 2022 to take part in the extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council regarding the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The foreign ministers of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States also participated in what was already the second extraordinary meeting since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thereby marking a strong show of transatlantic solidarity with Ukraine. Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, also took part in the meeting virtually and reported on the situation in his country.
Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine has shaken the foundations of Europe’s security architecture. However, the brave Ukrainian people have met the attack with strength and resolve, and the international community too has given a strong, united answer,
emphasised Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, also speaking of a “very strong sign of transatlantic unity“.
With his war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian President is driving his country into complete isolation economically and politically, which is also increasingly being felt by the people in Russia themselves. The voting behaviour in international fora similarly illustrates Russia’s isolated position on the international political stage.
The votes on a multilateral level in recent days, in the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, are a clear call to Russia that its course of action must fundamentally change,
said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg at the EU Council of Ministers.
In addition, the Foreign Minister expressed a great deal of concern about the combat operations in the immediate vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and urged an exclusion zone for the area.
Every person in both Russia and Ukraine must be aware that that is simply irresponsible after Chernobyl. That is playing with nuclear fire,
said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and called for compliance with international humanitarian law.
