The events in Ukraine have resulted in "a tectonic shift of the European security landscape," he said. The diplomat explained that combined defense spending across the bloc has increased by only 20 percent from 1999 to 2021, compared to 66 percent for the U.S., 292 percent for Russia and 592 percent for China.
"The EU needs to take more responsibility for its security and compensate for the shortfalls that have been underlined by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," Borell warned.
To take charge of its own security, he said, EU would need to create "modern and interoperable European armed forces – looking at the higher-end of the spectrum and also striving to scale up capabilities and forces." (Related: Russia holds war games with simulated nuclear strikes against the EU.)
Borell said they need to include working on the combat readiness of their forces and stockpile replenishment. They also need to modernize air defenses, cyber and space-based capabilities. They would also have to jointly develop future key capabilities, such as main battle tanks. These lines of action should eradicate the current gaps in their defense system.
"The time to push forward European defense is now. We need to strengthen the European defense industrial base and to be operational with the needed military capacities. To be able to increase our military capacity to defend ourselves, to make NATO stronger and to support better our partners whenever needed," Borrell said.
US drags Europe into a risky economic position
Apart from running out of ammunition, European countries are now in a risky economic situation by joining the United States in its war against Russia.
Moscow denounced EU's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and for assisting Ukraine in its militarization. "The bloc is turning from a constructive economic platform that it was originally meant to be to being an aggressive militant player that has ambitions stretching far beyond the European continent," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this month.
Besides sanctioning Russia, EU also allocated two billion euros ($2.13 billion) in military aid to Kiev and promised not to let Ukraine run out of military equipment.
Analysts observed that the sanctions being imposed on Russia are mainly for political reasons and the U.S. government is supporting the bloc on this.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Europe would be committing "economic suicide" by putting sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war.
"This economic auto-da-fe, this suicide, is the internal affairs of European countries. We must act pragmatically and with our economic interests in mind," Putin said at a meeting dedicated to the oil sector. "This could have irreversible consequences for a significant portion of European industrial production."
After the Kremlin sent its troops to Ukraine in February, the West introduced unprecedented sanctions against Russia, showing close coordination in their announcements regarding penalties. However, they have not moved at the same pace when it came to Russian oil and gas.
Putin hopes to redirect their supplies to "friendly" countries. He stressed that Europe's drastic moves are not only damaging its own economy, but will also lead to an increase in Russia's revenues from oil and gas as changes in the oil market are tectonic in nature.
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Watch the video below showing Russia's Ambassador to the EU saying that the Russia-Ukraine conflict could escalate into a wider European war.
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