European leaders are preparing new anti-Russian sanctions

 

 The European Union is under attack from Russia on many fronts and must unite behind new economic sanctions, Baltic leaders and Central European counterparts said, citing the risk of possible Russian military strikes from Belarus.

The warnings ahead of the EU summit have been some of the sharpest in recent weeks, as the United States and its NATO allies seek to prevent a Russian attack on Ukraine and reduce the possibility of "surprises from Moscow". Many NATO allies are also members of the EU, reminds Reuters.

 "We are facing a series of attacks. I see them all as connected, "Latvian Prime Minister Kršsijanis Karinš told reporters, listing the use of Middle Eastern migrants as weapons on Belarus' borders with the EU, artificially high natural gas prices and disinformation coming from Russia.

EU leaders will warn of "significant consequences" if Russia invades Ukraine, according to a draft final statement at a summit seen by Reuters. The United States and Britain have taken a similar position.

Irish Prime Minister Michal Martin, a neutral country outside NATO, said all disputes with Moscow must be resolved "by peaceful means".

 Russia's Baltic neighbors are talking about Moscow's attempts to blur the line between peace and war.

"We are probably facing the most dangerous situation in the last 30 years, I am talking not only about Ukraine but also about NATO's eastern flank," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said a day after EU leaders met with Ukraine and other former Soviet leaders. Republic of Brussels.

He cited fears that Russia could integrate Belarus, which borders Poland and the two Baltic states, into its military systems and use its territory "as a possible platform to attack neighboring countries."

 Any coordinated EU sanctions are likely to depend on Germany, whose new center-left chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has taken a firmer line than his center-right predecessor, Angela Merkel.

However, Berlin is torn between a united European position and whether to risk Russian natural gas supplies to its businesses and households this winter by opposing Moscow, diplomats said.

Germany, France and Ukraine tried on Wednesday to revive the "Norman" format, a diplomatic peace initiative involving Russia to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

 "We will reiterate that the inviolability of borders is an important basis for peace in Europe and that together we will do everything we can to ensure that this inviolability continues," Scholz told reporters at his first EU summit as German leader.