EU-CELAC summit, differences on crisis in Ukraine

The leaders of the countries of the European Union and of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) cannot find a common wording of the section on Ukraine in the final document of the EU-CELAC summit, held in Brussels on July 17-18, Bloomberg reports, citing a draft of the statement. The content of the section devoted to the Ukrainian question causes controversy among European and Latin American diplomats. The EU wants the document to contain a firm condemnation of the conflict in Ukraine and calls for "a complete and unconditional withdrawal" of Russian troops.

Latin American countries, in turn, prefer to "express concern" about the conflict and support efforts for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the draft statement said. Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had promised to work with all countries of the world without exception and to ask them for a "clear position on the Russian war in Ukraine and the rise of China". Participants at the June 29-30 EU summit tasked the EU's foreign service to engage in "sanctions diplomacy" to seek state support for restrictive anti-Russian measures.