The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on Monday the bloc would discuss the possibility of closing Russian bases in Syria with the country’s new leaders, while some ministers say Russians should be expelled.

“Many foreign ministers have picked up on this to say that, you know, the new leadership should have a condition of also getting rid of Russian influence there, because this is a base where they also carry out their activities in Africa and their southern neighbors,” Kallas told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. “So we will raise this issue with the leadership in our meetings.”

The EU is reaching out to rebel groups that toppled former dictator Bashar Assad and has set a number of conditions that must be met before the bloc grants formal recognition to the new authorities or establishes diplomatic ties formal, Kallas said. The EU had previously suspended all diplomatic relations with Assad’s government.