The EU's top diplomat said the EU is preparing for how to impose economic sanctions on Russia if the Trump administration abandons peace talks in Ukraine and seeks reconciliation with Moscow.
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to quickly end more than three years of Russian war against Ukraine, but failed to force a peace deal in the first 100 days of his tenure in Moscow and Kyiv, both of which rejected elements of the government's proposal.
"This is a problem," Kaja Kallas, senior EU representative for foreign and security policies, told the Financial Times. "We see signs that they are considering whether they should leave Ukraine instead of trying to reach a deal with the Russians because it's hard."
"If there is no progress, we will take a step back in the process," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.
Trump's proposals related to Moscow's economic reconciliation as part of the peace deal have raised concerns that some EU countries will require Brussels to take action in the coming months to lift EU sanctions on Russia.
European officials also fear the consequences of the U.S. could allow its company to restart economic cooperation with Russia while its EU operations are still banned from doing so.
Karas said there is a "Plan B" to maintain economic pressure on Russia if Hungary blocks the end of EU economic sanctions in July, but stressed that Brussels is still focused on bringing the consistency of all member states.
“There is also a Plan B, but we have to work for Plan A; she said: “Because otherwise you will focus on Plan B and that will happen.
Fight has previously reported that one option is to have the state government adopt sanctions alone to avoid Hungary's veto, such as Belgium issued a royal decree to preserve the 190 billion euros worth of Russian state assets frozen on Belgian soil.
A senior Belgian official told the British bank that “Belgium will not do something nationwide.”
But Karas does admit that EU capitals have discussions in some EU capitals whether to comply with the Trump administration if it abandons Ukraine and resets its ties with Russia.
"It's obvious that some Member States are having these types of discussions, maybe hope we really don't have to support (Ukraine) anymore," said former Estonian Prime Minister Karas. "But that's also a false hope because if you look at Russia investing more than 9% of its GDP in the military, they'll want to use it again."
As part of its peace proposal, the United States proposed to lift sanctions on Moscow, which, along with the EU, imposed on Moscow and restarted economic cooperation with Russia in sectors including energy. Hungary threatened to veto the necessary unanimous vote by the end of July to expand the EU's sanctions regime.
Karas said Europe could step in financially to help Ukraine when the U.S. evacuates, but admitted that “in terms of military support, of course, it is difficult to fill the gap if Americans leave.”
She said Brussels and other European capitals are focused on "still working with the Americans and trying to convince them why the outcome of this war is in their interests, and Russia is not really getting everything it wants."
But Karas said no EU country would accept Crimea as Russia’s recognition, an element of the U.S. proposal, which is the main red line in Kiev.
"I can't see that we're accepting things like this. But of course we can't speak for the United States and what they'll do," she said. "On the European side, we say this over and over again... Crimea is Ukraine."
"There are tools in the hands of Americans that can be used to put pressure on Russia to really stop the war," Carras added. "President Trump has said he hopes the killings will stop. He should put pressure on the people he is killing."