Rau made the statement to reporters after a meeting of EU top diplomats in Brussels on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
“I pointed out that the aim of the EU and the whole transatlantic community is to de-escalate tensions around Ukraine,” Rau said.
"But this de-escalation should be achieved through deterrence,” he added
“Otherwise Russia might be encouraged to take further action, which we regard as leading to a deterioration of security on the eastern flank of the EU and NATO,” he told reporters.
Rau also said that the European bloc was considering sanctions against Russia over Moscow's military buildup towards Ukraine.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the media on Monday that any attack by Russia on Ukraine would be “very costly” for Moscow.
He added that in the event of an invasion, further sanctions could be slapped on Russia by the EU, Britain and the United States, just as Brussels and Washington imposed economic countermeasures in 2014, following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP