BRUSSELS – Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is going to Brussels to participate in the extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU taking place on Friday afternoon, according to a foreign ministry announcement.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council was convened as a follow-up to Thursday’s extraordinary EU Summit, which was attended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in order for the foreign ministers of the 27 EU member-states to discuss the situation following Russia’s attack against Ukraine and coordinate their actions to impose sanctions on Russia.

Prior to his departure for Brussels, the foreign minister held a series of contacts with foreign officials. In particular, last night he spoke on the phone with the US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, as well as the US Ambassador in Athens. On Thursday, Dendias also met with the Ambassadors of Ukraine, Poland and Estonia, as well as the authorised officials of Latvia and Lithuania.

On Friday, the foreign minister met successively with the Ambassadors of France and the United Kingdom. He then chaired a second meeting of the Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Management Unit.

Due to his departure for the Foreign Affairs Council, Dendias asked the Secretary General of the foreign ministry, Ambassador Themistoklis Demiris, to meet with the Ambassador of China.

These meetings conclude a round of communication between the minister and all the ambassadors in Athens of states that are Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.