WARSAW, Poland — European leaders are telling Ukraine, Belarus and other countries to the European Union's east that they must respect democracy if they want deeper integration with the bloc. The statement are being made Friday at an EU summit in Warsaw on the Eastern Partnership, an initiative launched by Sweden and Poland in 2009 to deepen the EU's ties with Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter that the summit is sending a "clear signal on respect for democracy and human rights as part of EU integration. Kiev must take note." German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman tweeted that she was meeting with Belarusian rights activists and that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko "must free all political prisoners."
