

Please try another search
ROME (Reuters) - The European Union has little leverage with Russia over Ukraine, but needs to keep talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin to calm tensions, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Wednesday.
Draghi told reporters that Europe did not have a major military force of its own and said he saw little prospect of using sanctions on Russian gas imports as a way of forcing Putin to back down in his confrontation with Ukraine.
Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops on its border with Ukraine leading to fears that Putin is planning an invasion of the country -- something Moscow has denied.
"What deterrence can Europe deploy? This question should give us pause for thought," Draghi told reporters at an end-of-year news conference.
"Do we have missiles, ships, cannons, armies? At the moment no," Draghi said, adding that NATO's strategic focus was not on Russia but rather on the Indo-Pacific region -- an area embracing the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
"We Europeans have at most some sort of economic deterrence. But even here, we need to think a moment. If we want to impose sanctions that also include gas ... are we really capable of doing it in a strong enough fashion at the right moment? Clearly the answer is 'no'," he said.
Given these limitations, the European Union needed to maintain "a state of engagement" Putin, Draghi said, adding that he thought it was still possible to avoid "irreversible decisions" regarding Ukraine.
By Trevor Hunnicutt SEOUL (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and his new South Korean counterpart will search for ways on Saturday to break a diplomatic stalemate with North...
By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices settled slightly higher on Friday as a planned European Union ban on Russian oil and easing of COVID-19 lockdowns in China...
By Barani Krishnan Investing.com -- Gold prices rose 2% on the week to give longs in the game their first weekly win in five. While they may have secured a break from their gloom...
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.