EU-Ukraine: EU tells Russia to withdraw but Europe's approach at odds with the United States.

Ukraine: EU Wants Diplomatic Sollution

European Union foreign ministers held out the threat of sanctions against Russia on Monday if Moscow fails to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, while offering to mediate between the two, alongside other international bodies.

At talks on the Ukraine crisis in Brussels, they agreed no deadlines or details about any punitive measures that could be put in place against Russia, but leaders of the bloc's 28 nations will hold an emergency summit on Thursday and could take further decisions.

The EU discussions were convened abruptly after Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula and said he had the right to invade Ukraine.

"We need to see a return to barracks by those troops that have currently moved (from) where they have been staying," the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters after the foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

"There are serious concerns about overflights, about reports of troops and armed personnel moving."
In Monday's talks, EU governments sought to strike a balance between pressuring Moscow and finding a way to calm the situation.

"We want the situation to de-escalate to the position the troops had before this began," Ashton said.
Europe's approach leaves it at slight odds with the United States, after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry threatened visa bans, asset freezes and trade restrictions against Russia, which he accused of 19th century behavior in Ukraine.

Germany, France and Britain, the EU's most-powerful nations, were advocating mediation, possibly via the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), while not ruling out economic measures if Moscow does not cooperate.

"Crisis diplomacy is not a weakness but it will be more important than ever to not fall into the abyss of military escalation," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters as he arrived in Brussels.

EU-Digest