EU Cannot Allow New 'Cold War' With Russia - Austrian FM

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said that ‘Cold war’ must remain in history.

MUNICH (Sputnik) – The European Union cannot allow a new "cold war" against Russia, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said.

Earlier in the day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in his Munich Security Conference speech that Russia-NATO relations had reached the level of a new Cold War.

"We cannot allow this…. ‘Cold war’ must remain in history," Kurz told RIA Novosti.

The Vienna talks on the Syrian crisis must be used to find a diplomatic solution for the civil war in the country, the official said.

"There are currently events going on in Syria which are not far from the threshold of a war between Russia and Iran on one side and the United States and Saudi Arabia on the other. We must try to prevent such an outcome," Kurz explained.

The International Syria Support Group (ISSG) was formed in November shortly after the beginning of the Syria peace talks in Vienna as an international format aiming to resolve the internal crisis in Syria, where a civil war has been ongoing since 2011, with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting against several opposition factions and extremists.

The format currently involves Russia, the Arab League countries, the European Union and some of its member states, as well as China, Iran, Turkey, the United Nations and the United States.