The EU will strengthen the delegation in countries “key importance” in ensuring sanctions against Russia - Politico

The European Foreign Relations Service is going to increase the number of diplomats in countries "who are of key importance to ensure compliance with sanctions." At the same time, in some countries the EU intends to reduce the number of its representatives, writes the Politico newspaper with reference to documents and two sources.

According to the publication, abbreviations can fall about 10 foreign representative offices over the next two years. According to one of the Politico sources, this will affect the delegations in countries that the EU had previously sought to help in development. Among them are Belarus and Lesotho.

Delegations in these countries will be reduced to the main personnel - the ambassador and his assistants, who will work from home. As the source of the newspaper notes, this will be equivalent to the closure of the EU representative offices. The abbreviations will be affected by about 100 people.

The priorities of the block are shifted from development in development to achieve strategic interests: ensuring compliance with sanctions or defense partnership. Some delegations and the European Union, on the contrary, will intensify. In particular, this applies to EU representative offices in countries that are of key importance in ensuring sanctions against Russia: for example, in those under whose flags there are tankers of the Russian “shadow fleet”.