European leaders rebuffed calls from Ukraine for greater support against Russia on Thursday, after Kiev urged NATO to send ships into waters disputed with Moscow.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Kiev to be “sensible” following the request from President Petro Poroshenko, just hours after the European Union failed to agree to threaten new sanctions against Moscow.
Kiev has called on Western allies to back expressions of support with concrete action after Russian forces on Sunday seized three Ukrainian ships off the coast of Crimea.
The incident was the most dangerous in years between the ex-Soviet neighbours — who are locked in conflict over Russian-backed separatist regions — and has raised fears of a wider escalation.
In an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper published Thursday, Poroshenko asked NATO members including Berlin to send naval vessels to the Sea of Azov to back his country.
“Germany is one of our closest allies, and we hope that states within NATO are now ready to relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security,” he said.
But, while blaming Russia for tensions, Merkel showed no signs of being ready to back military support.
Ukraine has also urged Western governments to impose more sanctions on Russia over the incident, but there too it has seen little support.
In a statement on Wednesday, the EU strongly condemned Russia’s actions but, after three days of debate among senior officials, could not agree on a tougher response.
Wednesday’s statement reiterated demands that Russia release the seized boats and their crews, and restated Europe’s “full support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
It stopped short of threatening sanctions, saying only that the EU “is determined to act appropriately, in close coordination with its international partners”.
NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the issue would be raised at next week’s regular meeting of alliance foreign ministers in Brussels, where Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin is also expected.
She stressed that NATO is already present in the wider region.
