We Cannot Forever Offer an Olive Branch to Moscow: Charles Michel

The West cannot continuously negotiate and offer an olive branch to Moscow, while imposing extensive economic sanctions in the event of escalating tensions over Ukraine. This was stated by Charles Michel, President of the European Council, during his speech at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, as reported by TASS.

“The concentration of Russian forces around Ukraine continues, and we do not see signs of de-escalation,” he asserted. “We cannot forever offer an olive branch. If the escalation continues, extensive sanctions will be imposed,” Michel promised.

He also expressed the opinion that Russia has attempted to divide the West but has instead achieved the opposite result by uniting EU countries, transatlantic allies, the U.S. and Canada, as well as global partners, including Japan.

According to him, the EU has made economic proposals to Africa that should be more attractive than the initiatives of Russia and China.