Press
The foreign minister of the new NATO member Sweden joins the opponents of a ground troop deployment in Ukraine – and still wants more offensive.
Stockholm – The French President’s statements Emmanuel Macron The issue of sending soldiers to Ukraine recently sparked a major controversy in NATO member states. Many politicians expressed their lack of understanding. Also the foreign minister of the new NATO member Sweden, Tobias Billström, has now joined these voices and rejected Macron's considerations. In the same breath, he called on the supporting states to help Ukraine with more commitment.
“The French proposal to train Ukrainian personnel on Ukrainian soil is out of the question for Sweden,” Billström told Euractiv. At the end of February, Macron initially did not rule out the deployment of NATO troops and then later also mentioned a concrete scenario for such an operation at a meeting with French party leaders. How Euractiv Reportedly, Billström implied that Sweden does not view the debate that has broken out within NATO states following the French president's statements as pointless.
Instead of Macron's ground troop advance: Sweden wants more arms deliveries
Instead of using NATOsoldiers, the member states should strengthen their solidarity in other ways. Billström demanded opposite Euractiv, creating “more strategic difficulties” for Russia. Sweden will particularly work to provide greater deterrence and use its strategically important role in the Baltic Sea.
He also discussed a possible reorganization of the Baltic Sea Council for security issues. Russia is a neighboring country that behaves irresponsibly, threatens to use nuclear weapons and wants to rebuild “its old empire” at the expense of independent states. “We have to put an end to this.”
How Euractiv reports, Billström appealed to NATO member states to recognize the urgent need for action. The Ukraine war must be stopped, the Ukrainian troops would need “more of almost everything”. He described corresponding military deliveries as a political rather than a capacity question.
In the fight against Russia: more NATO, less EU
CNN reported in mid-March that Russia was producing three times as much ammunition as that USA and the European supporting states together. A NATO official even spoke of a “production war.” Currently, Ukraine has been waiting for new military aid from the United States for several months. A blockade in the US Congress is blocking new deliveries.
Foreign Minister Tobias Billström not only spoke out in favor of more active action, but also criticized the European Union's own initiatives. European defense must be carried out together with NATO and the USA, he said Euractiv. In this context, he also rejected the initiative EU-Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to create the position of her own EU defense commissioner. (ses)
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