The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Monday that the bloc will raise the possibility of closing Russian bases in Syria with the country’s new leadership, as some ministers argue the Russians should be pushed out.
“Many foreign ministers took this up to say that, you know, it should be a condition for the new leadership that they also get rid of the Russian influence there because it is a base where they also conduct their activities toward Africa and southern neighbors,” Kallas told journalists after a gathering of the EU’s foreign ministers in Brussels. “So we will raise this issue with the leadership when we have the meetings.”
The EU is reaching out to the rebel groups that ousted former dictator Bashar Assad and has laid out a number of conditions that need to be met before the bloc grants formal recognition to the incoming authorities or establishes formal diplomatic relations, Kallas said. The EU previously suspended all diplomatic relations with Assad’s government.
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