Germany’s silence on the Leopard tanks overshadows the EU foreign ministers’ meeting. According to Haavisto, Finland’s share of the Leopards could be driver training, maintenance training, spare parts, “maybe even a tank.”
Brussels
Foreign minister Pekka Haaviston (vihr) says that the dialogue between Sweden and Turkey has been maintained despite the weekend demonstrations. The Koran was burned at the demonstration held in Sweden, and the Swedish flag was burned at the one held in Turkey.
“So far, the communication link between Stockholm and Ankara has been maintained. During the weekend, contact has been maintained, and I have also spoken about this myself [Ruotsin] of the foreign minister Tobias Billström with regularly,” Haavisto said when he arrived at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Read more: Relations between Sweden and Turkey reached a new crisis – it is probably still only one piece in the NATO puzzle
“We hope that the atmosphere will calm down a bit and that dolls and Swedish flags will not be seen at the demonstrations. Feelings are really hot now, and I’ve said that you should keep your eye on the ball. This easily spreads to other things than NATO membership itself.”
Haavisto has not been in contact with the Turkish side in recent days. Haavisto says that a meeting time is currently being sought for the next tripartite negotiations between Turkey, Sweden and Finland.
According to Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, the Swedish government has made it clear that it does not accept the burning of the Koran, to which the Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan committed at the weekend in Stockholm. At the same time, however, the government has emphasized that there is extensive freedom of speech in Sweden.
Swedish Minister of Defense Pål Jonson’s the visit to Turkey planned for this week was cancelled.
Billström said on Monday when he came to the meeting of foreign ministers that the connections with Turkey will continue at the diplomatic level. According to him, Sweden expects the document of understanding between Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed last summer to move forward despite the “disturbances”.
Meeting of Foreign Ministers the agenda is dominated by Ukraine. The ministers will discuss, among other things, the tenth sanctions package against Russia that is under construction. According to preliminary information, the package is intended to limit Russia’s opportunities to export products refined from oil.
Additional sanctions against Iran are also on the agenda. The EU has also considered listing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. That would mean that already being a member of the guard would basically be a punishable act.
Iran has warned that adding the Revolutionary Guard to the terrorist list could interrupt the negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal that started last year.
Agenda outside, some EU countries are irritated with Germany, which has been expected to make a decision on the export of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Many of Germany’s allied countries would be willing to donate their own Leopards, but permission from Germany is required.
Lithuania’s sharp-tongued foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said when he came to the meeting that the problem in the EU is fear.
“We are not moving forward with sanctions and military aid because we are afraid of what will actually happen if Russia loses the war. If we overcome this fear, everything becomes easier,” Landsbergis said on Monday.
Finland is one of the countries awaiting Germany’s decision on tanks.
“We are waiting for the group of large countries, hopefully including Germany, to make their own solutions, and then we will see how Finland can join such an ecosystem. Whether it is driver training, maintenance training, spare parts, maybe even a tank, depending on what the package turns out to be.” , Haavisto says.
Haavisto estimates that the reason behind Germany’s reluctance may be reasons related to the maintenance situation of the carriages, for example, which they do not want to make public.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday in a television interview that Germany is not an obstacle if Poland wants to send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine. On Monday, Baerbock did not comment directly on the matter.
Finland announced on Friday that it will send the 12th batch of defense equipment to Ukraine, which is the largest so far and worth about 400 million euros. Its content has not been disclosed.
Haavisto characterizes it as going to “acute help”.
#Haavisto #Emotions #run #high #discussion #connection #Turkey #preserved
