Thread by @Syria_Irl

Thread #Musthear the excell @lukeharding1968 re lack pressure #Russia "The European Union needs a hard, tough strategy to deal with Russia" newstalk.com/podcasts/highl… via @newstalkfm

‘you mentioned in your introduction about the expulsion of three European diplomats,a German,a Pole anda Swede a couple of days ago.And of course, this happened when Josep Borrell , the foreign policy chief, was in town.And it was essentially done deliberately to humiliate him/2

and to say to to to the world, 'butt out of our affairs, if if we wish to imprison or poison our political prisoners, we will.' ..'Until the EU actually steps up here, the criminal will carry on doing what what it does and exploiting European hesitancy and weakness, I would say/3

And what has to be understood is that this regime, for all of its bluster and its sort of realpolitik, actually what they ultimately care about is their money. I mean, they're very, very, very rich people worth billions. And I think sanctioning key individuals around Putin,/4

some of them being sanctioned already,but widening that list,goingafter oligarchs andother emissaries,freezing their assets,closing down their bank accounts,that causes genuine pain and consternation in Moscow.And it's actually the best thing that ordinary EU countries coulddo'/5

WHY NO EU UN SANCTIONS RUSSIA RE #SYRIA? @irishmissionun @simoncoveney @eu_eeas @germanydiplo @cdu @RegSprecher @CDU @csu
@eppgroup
@spdde
@emmanuelmacron
@Gruene_Europa
@GruenSprecher
@GrueneBundestag @euronews @europeangreens @euronews @VoxEurop @brusselstimes /6

@euwatchers @eucouncilpress @politicoeurope
@Europarl_EN
@EP_President
@eucopresident
@JosepBorrellF
@EU_UNGeneva @new_europe @berlaymont @euractiv @euobs /7