EU Not Evacuating Diplomats From Kiev Shows Bloc's Willingness To Make Own Decisions - AfD

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2022) Brussels' insistence on keeping its diplomatic personnel in Ukraine contrary to the decision of the United States, followed by the United Kingdom and Australia, to evacuate some embassy personnel and their family members from Kiev, is a sign that the European Union wants to make its own political decisions, lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party told Sputnik.

On Monday, Washington authorized the voluntary departure of US direct-hire employees and ordered the departure of eligible family members from the embassy in Kiev over security concerns. The same step was taken by the UK and Australia. Brussels has called the decision dramatic, saying its diplomats will continue to work from Kiev.

"The EU is remaining in Ukraine because they have learned that they can't rely on NATO to make all of their foreign policy decisions," Harald Weyel, an AfD spokesman in the Bundestag committee on EU affairs, said.

Washington's withdrawal of diplomatic staff from Kiev can also be seen as a signal to Russia that the US is ready to compromise discreetly, while attempting to save face, "for example by discouraging NATO-friendly forces from continuing hostilities in Donbas without officially admitting a change of policy," Weyel added.

"The US retreat from Kiev is similar to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in that the US is abandoning its claim to control a territory far beyond its own borders.

In Afghanistan as in Kiev, there is no immediate external danger causing the withdrawals, which seem to be prompted by political considerations unknown to the public," he said.

The EU's decision can also be attributed to the desire to resolve the conflict peacefully and withdrawing diplomats will be counterproductive to that goal, Olga Petersen, an AfD member of the Hamburg Parliament, told Sputnik.

At the same time, Petersen did not agree with her AfD colleague that the situation in Kiev can be compared to the one Kabul several months ago, given that the US is pursuing different goals in Ukraine.

Gunnar Beck, an AfD member of the European Parliament's delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, said that the withdrawal of diplomatic staff, as well as delays over North Stream 2, are clear evidence that "influential groups in the West are seeking to intensify tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine."

The EU is still split between those who wish to cooperate with Russia and those who "clearly wish to intensify the current deterioration of relations" - though with the rise of the Greens to power in Germany, the balance might tip toward a more hostile stance, the expert fears.

"My own view is that for as long as the Russian Government is continuing its current measured approach which is reactive rather than provocative, there is still a chance that there will not be an escalation," Beck said.