European summit opens in Moldova with Ukraine, regional conflicts on agenda

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at a sprawling summit of nearly 50 European leaders in Moldova on June 1, becoming the focal point of an event that seeks to soothe regional conflicts and shore up unity in the face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The meeting of the European Political Community, a pan-continental gathering of heads of state and government from 47 countries, brings together leaders from European Union nations and others to the 27-member bloc's south and east — a region pushed to a turning point in its relationship with Moscow by Russia's attack on Ukraine last year.

The EU, represented at the summit by the bloc's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, wants to use the summit to reach out to many Eastern European countries that spent decades either within the Soviet Union or under its immediate sphere of influence, and to bolster the continent’s unified response to Russian aggression.

The choice to hold the summit in Moldova, a former Soviet republic of around 2.6 million people, is seen as a message to the Kremlin both from the EU and the pro-Western Moldovan government, which received EU candidate status in June of last year at the same time as Ukraine.

As he arrived, Borrell noted the significance of the summit's location, only around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Ukraine's border.

“It’s important that this message reaches Russia," Borrell said. "Russia is not here, not because we don’t want to invite Russia, but because Putin’s Russia was excluded from this community by launching this attack, this war — unjustified — against Ukraine.”

Moldova, Europe’s poorest country which is cradled by Ukraine on three sides, aspires to join the EU by the end of the decade, and has consistently signalled its support for Ukraine and taken in refugees fleeing the war.

Speaking from the summit venue, a 19th-century castle and vineyard around 35 kilometres (21 miles) from the capital, Chisinau, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said a major aim of the summit was “restoring peace on the continent” and protecting democracy in Moldova and Ukraine from threats posed by Russia.

Zelenskyy, the first foreign leader to arrive at Thursday's summit, entered an expansive courtyard of the castle in his trademark olive green shirt and cargo pants before meeting with Sandu on a red carpet.

He thanked the Moldovan people for hosting Ukrainian refugees, and said both Ukraine and Moldova were destined to work “shoulder to shoulder” for EU membership.

“What is very important: our future in the EU,” he said, adding that his country is ready to enter NATO whenever the Western military alliance is ready to accept it.

"I think security guarantees are very important, not only for Ukraine, but for our neighbors, for Moldova, because of Russian aggression in Ukraine and potential aggression in other parts of Europe," Zelenskyy said.

Other summit participants include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Scholz and Macron will join European Council President Michel for one of the summit's major meetings: discussions with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet Caucasian neighbour nations that have fought wars over contested territory.

That territory Karabakh was the site of a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020 that killed more than 6,000 people. The war ended in a Russia-brokered armistice under which Armenia relinquished territories surrounding the region.

Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan, but ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia had illegally occupied the region and surrounding territories since 1994. Recent negotiations between the two nations over the territory have raised hopes that a breakthrough could come at the Moldova summit.

Another lighting rod will be the recent flareup in ethnic tensions between neighboring Serbia and Kosovo, whose leaders arrived at the summit Thursday morning. NATO has announced it will send 700 more troops to northern Kosovo to help quell violent protests after clashes with ethnic Serbs there left 30 international soldiers wounded this week.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters that he would do his best to deescalate the tensions, and asked ethnic Serbs in Kosovo to keep protests peaceful. He said he expects EU and US envoys in Belgrade next week, and that he'll meet with Borrell while in Moldova.

The latest violence in the region has stirred fear of a renewal of the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo that claimed more than 10,000 lives, left more than 1 million people homeless and resulted in a NATO peacekeeping mission that has lasted nearly a quarter of a century.

Kosovo is represented at the summit by its president, Vjosa Osmani, but the absence of Prime Minister Albin Kurti could preclude chances of a meaningful resolution to the recent unrest as the position of president is largely symbolic.