EU sees no new Cold War signs with Russia

European Union’s top diplomat said on Monday she saw no signs of a new Cold War developing with Russia, days after Russia’s prime minister warned of growing tension between his country and the West.

“I have not seen the climate of Cold War in these last days,” Federica Mogherini, the head of foreign policy for the EU, said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, when she was asked to comment on the warning by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

At an annual security conference in Munich, the Russian premier said over the weekend that Moscow and the West had “fallen into a new Cold War.” His remarks came after the powers involved in the Syrian conflict agreed to a
“cessation of hostilities” that would let humanitarian aid be delivered.

Mogherini also called on all the parties to that agreement to stick to their commitment. But a Russian-backed offensive by Syrian government troops and their allies around Aleppo, the country’s largest city, has yet to stop.

“Russia is playing a different game,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said as he arrived in Brussels for the meeting of EU foreign ministers. “Aleppo is becoming a litmus test of everything that is going on in Syria.”

The war in Syria has killed at least 250,000 people and created a breeding ground for radical Islamists. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the rebels seeking to oust him, and the foreign backers of both sides have failed to agree on ways to end the conflict.