Commenting in the context of this week's G7 summit in Brussels, Greens/EFA president Rebecca Harms said:

"While the G7 leaders are meeting in Brussels, the situation in eastern Ukraine continues to escalate. The G7 cannot stand idly by and accept this deterioration, with its inevitable humanitarian consequences. A way must be found to make Russia honour its commitments on the disarmament of the separatists, which it made in Geneva. Russia must immediately and publicly cease all support to armed separatists.

"There can be no military solution to the conflict over Ukraine and the insistence by NATO's secretary general is counterproductive. The G7 and the EU must engage in a more coherent diplomacy to be taken seriously by Russia, including meaningful economic sanctions. The OSCE mission needs to be further strengthened. Russia must fulfill its obligations as a member of the OSCE and publicly demand the immediate release of all the teams and disappeared journalists, politicians and civilians.

"It is welcome that the G7 will also explore ways to reduce our dependence on Russian energy exports. The Russian strategy of using its raw materials for political ends also requires a united European response however. A common European energy strategy must be founded on the principle of solidarity, with renewable energy and energy efficiency at its core. A retrograde step back towards a fossil fuel and nuclear-based energy policy would be at odds with the goal of creating a sustainable and clean energy future for Europe."

Richard More O'Ferrall,

Press and media advisor, social media coordinator,

Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament

Mobile: +32-477-443842

Ph. +32-22841669 (Brussels); +33-388174042 (Strasbourg)

www.greens-efa.eu - http://twitter.com/GreensEP - https://www.facebook.com/greensefa