After his trip to the USA and the first visit to Moscow, Chancellor Scholz coordinated the Ukraine crisis with his Baltic allies. The summit should also be about a legacy of the GDR.
Berlin – Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is meeting with the leaders of the three Baltic States today to discuss the Ukraine crisis with them.
In the evening he received the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, the Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and the Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš in the Berlin Chancellery.
Before the meeting, Kallas spoke out in favor of supplying Ukraine with weapons to defend against Russia. “It is up to each country what kind of help it wants to offer Ukraine. We think it is very important to help Ukraine in any way we can,” she told the German Press Agency. “Estonia stands ready to provide arms and ammunition to help Ukraine, in cooperation with our allies, defend against Russian aggression.”
Neighboring countries feel threatened
Estonia has applied to the federal government to be allowed to deliver nine artillery pieces to the Ukraine that come from GDR stocks. According to the contract, Germany’s consent to the transfer of these cannons with a range of 15 kilometers is required. Germany has been examining the request for weeks. The German government refuses to supply deadly weapons to Ukraine.
Along with Poland, the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are among the EU countries that border Russia. They therefore feel particularly threatened by the powerful neighboring country. The Balts advocate a hard line against Moscow and reject the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
In addition to the Balten summit, there is another important meeting on the Ukraine crisis in Berlin: the conflicting parties Russia and Ukraine will be sitting at the same table for the second time since troops began to deploy on the Ukrainian border. The foreign policy advisors to the two presidents meet their colleagues from Germany and France, who are mediating in the conflict.
Efforts to resolve the crisis are also continuing at other levels. US President Joe Biden spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron on the phone after his visits to heads of state in Moscow and Kiev. Both spoke on ongoing diplomatic initiatives and “deterrence efforts” in close coordination with allies, the White House said.
Great Britain is also continuing its diplomatic efforts in the Ukraine conflict. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels and will also travel to Poland. There he wants to speak to President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Johnson traveled to Kiev last week.
Truss: Diplomacy the only way
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a two-day visit. After landing, she asked Russia to immediately withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian border. “Any intrusion would be a huge mistake. Diplomacy is the only way, and Russia must follow this path,” Truss said. Her government also had 1,000 more soldiers stationed in Britain on standby “to support NATO and allies in the event of a humanitarian crisis (in the conflict region)”. The Ministry of Defense had already announced on Monday that it would send 350 more soldiers to Poland.
Parallel to the ongoing peace efforts and diplomatic initiatives, Russia and Belarus want to officially start joint military maneuvers. The exercises, for example in southern Belarus on the border with Ukraine, are necessary in view of the “unprecedented threat”, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Interfax agency. These are not the first exercises of this kind, but this time they were larger than usual because of the tensions with the West. In the past few days there had already been individual maneuvers by both armies.
Moscow insists on international law
NATO accuses Russia of relocating around 30,000 soldiers to Belarus, which creates a threat to neighboring Ukraine. Moscow, on the other hand, emphasized that the exercise was in accordance with international law and that the maximum number of soldiers stipulated would not be exceeded. The Russian armed forces should also leave Belarus again after the end of the maneuver.
At the same time as the Russian-Belarusian maneuvers, neighboring Ukraine also announced nationwide military exercises, primarily in dealing with new Western weapons. dpa
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