If Russia were to pursue acts of aggression toward Eastern Partnership countries, the European Union would consider taking further stronger action, including in the economic field.
In a joint statement, Foreign Ministers of three European countries - Germany, France and Poland – said they would continue supporting the EU policy to ensure that Eastern Partnership countries were not faced with a stark choice to either move closer to the EU or work with Russia in a comprehensive manner.
"Neither the Eastern Partnership of the EU nor the bilateral agreements the EU concludes with its partners are directed against Russia,” the European diplomats said at a meeting in the German city of Weimar.
They proposed EU-Russia talks with Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova about the consequences of the EU-Association Agreements with Eastern European Partners with both sides.
"The Eastern Partnership was established as a policy supporting democratic, economic and social reforms in the Eastern neighbourhood. Its goal was to assist our partners in building strong, stable and prosperous countries with citizen-oriented states and facilitate people-to-people contacts. This is also in the interest of Russia,” the Ministers claimed.
The European Foreign Ministers called upon Russia to refrain from further escalating the situation in Ukraine and reduce its military presence along the Russian-Ukrainian border.
"The same applies to other Eastern Partnership countries,” they added.
The diplomats noted Georgia’s and Moldova’s progress in regards to implementing a Visa Liberalization process.
"With Georgia, significant progress in the framework of the Action Plan on Visa Liberalization has already been made,” they said.
"These are strong messages of our support and reflect the achievements of Moldova and Georgia. We are ready to provide further support after signature of the Association Agreement and to assist during the phase of implementation,” the Foreign Minister stated.
Below is the full text of the joint statement by German, French and Polish Foreign Ministers.