Kaja Kalla
Kaja Kallas argues that the peace agreement should limit the Russian army, not the Ukrainian one. The focus is on the Kremlin’s concessions.
“There are zero indications that Russia wants to stop this war.”
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kalla, is not very confident in an ending close to .
Kallas does not agree with Mark Rutte, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), who said the conflict could end as early as 2025.
The head of the European Union disagrees, not least because “We all want this war to end, but the way it ends must also matter”he said, at a press conference.
For the European Union, “there must be obligations on Russia’s side to have peace” and that these obligations “must be long-term”, to prevent the Kremlin from deciding to invade Ukraine or any other country again – something that Kallas fears.
Kallas recalled that Russia does not make any representations about what Donald Trump presented. The Kremlin “asks for more than what it has already taken”, he claims.
“In the long term there must be obligations, for example, [a Rússia] must honor the obligations that already existed, namely don’t attack anyone elsewe can start there”, commented Kaja Kallas.
And, contrary to what the White House suggests, Russia should be reducing its army, not Ukraine: ”If we want to prevent this war from continuing, then we must limit Russia’s army and also its military budget.”
“Attention should focus on the type of concessions and limitations we see from the Russian side, so that it doesn’t go any further and they don’t have the opportunity to invade again”, reinforced Kaja Kallas.
Overall, the distrust remains: “We still have to move from a situation in which Russia pretends to negotiate to a situation in which it has to negotiate”.
