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At the same time, Putin has been wooing some nations like Hungary and Cyprus, making sure they can act as a thorn in the EU’s side.

Since foreign policy is set by unanimity between 28 nations, Tusk will find it tough to speak forcefully when he meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday.

“Unity is a very good word. Everyone is for unity,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius, with biting sarcasm. “But you know, unity to do nothing is not for me, I don’t like it,” he said at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Riga, which ended on Saturday.

Unity is a very good word. Everyone is for unity. But you know, unity to do nothing is not for me, I don’t like it

That’s exactly what U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and a group of top Democrats and Republicans sought to highlight in a letter to Obama on Thursday. In it, they complained that U.S. foreign policy on Ukraine and Russia was being “held hostage by the lowest common denominator of European consensus.”

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini understands this all too well — since she has led several meetings with member states at loggerheads. “But we get out of the room with a common position,” she insisted, however difficult that may be. So far the EU has stuck together to impose economic sanctions on Russia and impose visa bans and asset freezes on 151 officials linked to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, including several Russians.

But EU unity is fraying in places like Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban is under close scrutiny for his efforts to build an “illiberal state” partly based on Russia. He has waged a campaign to discredit civic groups, limit government transparency and weaken the democratic system of checks and balances.