NATO member states held urgent talks on Tuesday where they claimed to be standing together "in the spirit of strong solidarity" and pledged their support to Ukraine. And yet the division between European allies and the United States could hardly be overseen, considered deep economic interests that some of Europe's powerhouse nations have in Russia.
While the former Eastern bloc reverted to Cold War rhetoric, some of their Western European partners showed signs of reluctance to crack down on Moscow with US-proposed economic sanctions.
All EU officials harshly condemned Russia's action in Ukraine, while at the same time keeping an eye on the economic relations they have been cultivating since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany - one of Russia's key trading partners and energy buyers in the EU - pressed for international mediation between Moscow and Kiev, adding a vague "if we don't agree on decisive steps towards an international agreement… then I expect the discussion (among EU leaders today) will proceed in a way that measures will indeed be decided upon."
In France, escalating tensions between Europe and Russia have raised fears among the nation's carmakers with strong interests in Russia, such as Renault, which is partly owned by the French government. Through a partnership with Nissan, Renault has also been hoping to boost its ownership in Russia's largest automaker to nearly 75 percent this year.
Earlier, the Guardian reported about indications that Britain was going to rule out sanctions against Russia after the value of the pound fell and natural gas prices rose by almost 10 percent. A document photographed in Downing Street suggested that Britain is concerned about the economic impact of any sanctions against Russia. The paper states that the "UK should not support, for now, trade sanctions … or close London's financial center to Russians".
On Monday, the FTSE-100 index of Britain's leading companies fell by 1.49 percent and the German stock market by more than 3 percent.
Given that the EU has much stronger economic ties with Russia than does the US, securing its cooperation will be paramount to any effort by Washington to secure significant sanctions, Western media say.
"The European position is a mess," said Kadri Liik, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. "I think it's quite chaotic and hit-and-miss, and there's no unanimity as to what to do."
In a separate development, Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan called Putin yesterday to discuss the acute crisis in Ukraine, particularly the latest confrontation over the autonomous peninsula of Crimea in Ukraine's southeast.
Both leaders said they believed that interethnic and interfaith peace and order would be ensured in Crimea despite what they described as aggressive actions by radical and extremist Maidan forces. They also agreed to keep in touch on the situation.
Meanwhile, Poland and Baltic States have been mounting pressure on the US and Western Europe to pile more pressure on Russia, with Warsaw calling for economic sanctions and other punitive steps. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the newest NATO member states, have also been seeking a more aggressive attitude to Russia.
On the other hand, an Estonian newspaper called Ohtuleht published editorial justifying concerns of Western European economies that depend on Russia's natural gas supplies. "What government would dare to suggest to its voters to spend the next winter in a cold apartment just because of a peninsula nobody can point out on the map?" it asked.
The decision by EU foreign ministers not to impose sanctions has put the focus on Thursday's meeting between EU leaders in Brussels.
