The informal Gymnich meeting was meant to set the agenda for the autumn. While ministers brought competing concerns to the table, Russia emerged as a clear point of common ground — from tougher visa restrictions to new sanctions and measures against Moscow’s hybrid warfare. But a renewed push to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine remains unresolved.
The meeting in Ireland offered a mixed picture of European unity. Ministers broadly backed proposals to tighten visa restrictions on Russian citizens and bar former Russian soldiers from entering the EU, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stressed that attempts to intimidate and divide Europe would fail.
At the same time, the long-running dispute over how to use more than €200 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets remains unsettled. Several ministers raised the issue again, but no decision was reached.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee warned that “there is a very clear attempt by Russia to divide EU member states, divide citizens, and instill fear”. Ministers agreed that “more needs to be done” in response to Russian drone strikes, particularly after a summer “marked by an intensification of activity”.
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Russia is testing Europe
The Leipzig incident provided a stark backdrop to the meeting after Germany attributed the failed attack to Moscow on Tuesday.
The incident prompted a swift response from several EU capitals. France summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to strongly protest what it described as a hybrid attack, while Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Paris would support Germany’s sanctions proposals and back measures targeting vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet. Berlin, meanwhile, used the incident to press its EU counterparts to demonstrate that the bloc remains united in confronting Moscow.
Kallas said the Leipzig incident had “all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism” and should force Europe to ask “what more we can do”.
She pointed to new sanctions being prepared ahead of the October Foreign Affairs Council, with 1,600 designations targeting Russia’s military complex already in the works. She also stressed the need to close loopholes that allow foreign components to reach Russia’s defence industry. Ukraine has identified more than 5,500 Western and Asian components in Russian weapons, Kallas said.
“After four years of war, this is unforgivable,” she said. “These components have no business being there.”
The meeting also included representatives from Ukraine, Canada, Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom and Switzerland — a broader coalition that Kallas described as an important sign of unity in confronting Russia.
The frozen-assets deadlock
But agreement becomes harder when the response carries greater political and financial risks. Several ministers again raised the possibility of using frozen Russian assets in Europe to support Ukraine. “Discussions will continue. Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused,” Kallas said.
The issue remains politically and legally contentious. The EU has frozen more than €200 billion in Russian central bank assets under its sanctions regime, but a proposal to use them to back a so-called reparations loan for Ukraine collapsed last winter after Belgium refused to support it at an EU summit.
Instead, the bloc agreed to borrow €90 billion on financial markets and use the money to provide a loan to Kyiv over the following 18 months, conditional on reforms by the Ukrainian government. Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary have said they will not participate in providing guarantees for the EU borrowing.
Belgium has recently signalled that it is open to reopening the discussion on the frozen assets, but continues to demand financial guarantees from other EU countries against potential Russian retaliation.
The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Spain have meanwhile written to the European Commission calling for the debate to be reopened.
For now, the issue remains unresolved. European governments can broadly agree that Russia poses a growing threat and that more pressure on Moscow is needed. The harder question is how far they are willing to go, and who is prepared to bear the risks.
Upcoming elections
That question will become more pressing as Europe approaches a series of national elections. Italy warned that Moscow could seek to interfere in elections across the EU, with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani calling any attempt to influence voters through hybrid warfare “truly unacceptable”.
Eight EU member states are due to hold national elections in 2027, raising the prospect that Russian interference could become another test of European resilience.
The Leipzig incident, attacks on Kyiv, sanctions evasion and the prospect of election interference all point in the same direction: Moscow is continuing to test Europe. For now, the EU appears increasingly united on the threat. The divisions lie in deciding how far to go in responding to it — and who is prepared to bear the risks.
