Borrell: Russia violated three fundamental principles in Georgia first, then in Ukraine

Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell says that Russia violated three fundamental principles in terms of Georgia first in 2008 and then in Ukraine. 

He says that the three principles that Russia has previously accepted and that it now puts into question are the right of each state to freely choose to belong, or not to belong, to an international organisation and to be a party to treaties or alliances, as recognised by the Paris Charter, the non-use of force and the respect of the territorial integrity.

 “Russia is violating these three fundamental principles in Ukraine, as it has already done in Georgia. And Russia is not merely making assertions but accompanying this with growing military pressure on the Ukrainian border and by threatening Kyiv with a new intervention unless its demands are met in full,” Borrell says. 

He states that the ambition of the Russian authorities is to challenge the political and security order born after the Cold War. 

“Moscow wants to go back on the NATO-Russia founding act of 1997, which accompanied NATO’s enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe; the Paris Charter of 1990, which codified the principles for European security after the end of the Cold War,” Borrell stated.