Britain's Foreign Minister called for the exclusion of a number of Russian organizations

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for Russia to be excluded from a number of international organizations. In an article published on the website of The Telegraph, Haig stressed that Britain and its allies should be ready to build new relations with Moscow, given the role of the latter in the Ukrainian crisis.

The new format of relations implies not only excluding Russia from some international organizations: Haig also proposes to reduce military cooperation and arms sales, as well as to limit the influence of Moscow in Europe.

Russia's actions have caused tremendous damage to its reputation, said Haig. Last week in the UN Security Council, no other country supported the position of the Russian side, which used its veto power alone, he stressed.

This week, European countries adopted unprecedented sanctions against Russia, the British minister recalled. Contrary to the opinion that Moscow's actions in Crimea will have short-term consequences in the form of limited sanctions, after which everything will return to the status quo, are wrong, in fact, the losses of the Russians will turn out to be much more significant, Haig emphasized. At the same time, he noted that the adopted sanctions do not pursue the goal of punishing the Russians, but contain a warning to Russian leaders.

Over the course of 20 years, Great Britain and its allies in Europe and NATO gradually built normal relations with Russia, which joined the G8 and the World Trade Organization, the Russia-NATO Council was created, and joint work was organized in the UN Security Council, Haig listed. “But Russia’s actions in Ukraine take us back to a completely different era. The illegal annexation of Crimea is an outrageous seizure of foreign territory, and the referendum preceding this is a mockery of democracy. Russia used force against its brother in order to change its borders,” the minister is confident.

The head of the British Foreign Office is convinced that Moscow’s actions in the Crimean issue are the most serious risk to European security since the beginning of the 21st century. Fundamental principles, including those relating to territorial integrity and the right of the population of democratic countries to choose their future, are at risk, he noted.

“If we don't protect democratic principles in Ukraine, they will threaten other countries in Europe and the world,” Hague said. He called on Moscow to enter into direct negotiations with Kiev and help resolve the conflict peacefully.

The European Commission is currently working on developing further economic measures that will be applied in the event of further Russian actions to “weaken Ukraine,” the minister emphasized.

In particular, the issue of future energy security is discussed. “If necessary, we must be prepared to diversify future sources of natural gas supplies to Europe, including through the Southern Corridor. We need to increase investment in Europe's gas transmission system, and also develop a plan for countries wanting to develop their own resources, such as shale gas," Hague said.

These measures will provide assistance to Ukraine and other countries to liberalize their energy markets, increase energy efficiency and ensure more sustainable energy supplies. Given the actions of Russia in Ukraine, the European Union is likely to take just such a decision, I'm sure Haig.

“Accelerating energy diversification in Europe will be part of our response to the latest events in Ukraine. We need to focus on supporting democratic institutions in countries vulnerable to possible Russian interference,” he said.

Haig sees the reasons for economic problems in Ukraine in Russia - its failures in the development of independent institutions and the dominance of oligarchs. The same oligarchy, he noted, harmed Ukraine. He noted that he warned Ukrainian leaders about the need to fight corruption, create independent institutions and emphasized in conversations with them the fundamental importance of the rule of law for the future of the country.

Haig believes that "corrupting habits" could spread to other countries and would deal a serious blow to European democracy. He sees a “healthy” democracy in Great Britain. “We have learned to guard against excessive concentration of power,” Haig explained.

The decision on the annexation of the Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia marked the beginning of the conflict between the new Ukrainian government and Moscow. West supported Kiev in a controversial issue. The European Union and the United States have twice taken sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials who are guilty, in their opinion, in escalating the conflict.

In response to Moscow’s policy on the Crimean issue, the European leaders of March 18 decided to suspend Russia's membership of G8. On the eve of the new Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk offered to give the vacant seat to Ukraine, which has signed an associate membership agreement with the European Union.

Source - RBC Daily