Of the President of the United States Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoffin is supposed to negotiate with the Russian president Vladimir Putin with on Tuesday.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kalla comments on the upcoming negotiations on Monday after the EU Defense Ministers’ meeting.
Kallas said that he was afraid that in the negotiations all the pressure would be applied to the weaker party, i.e. Ukraine, because that is the easiest way to end the war.
According to Kallas, the surrender of Ukraine would not be in anyone’s interest, because if Russia succeeds in changing Ukraine’s borders by force, the same will be seen in other parts of the world.
“Then we see that whoever has the power can take what they want, which is not a good thing for most of the countries in the world.”
The EU’s high representative also commented on information from the Wall Street Journal, according to which Witkoff negotiated economic cooperation with Russia and the United States in connection with the peace agreement in October.
According to WSJ sources, Russia was looking for ways to get out of the economic sanctions and the United States was promised priority in the Russian market.
According to Kallas, it is clear that the Russians want to negotiate with those who offer them something more on top of what they already have.
“The Russians hope that they will be given a very good offer, because they see that there is a lot of pressure on the victim, but no real sacrifice is required of them themselves.”
“This is clearly in their interest, but it should not be in our interest,” Kallas said.
The high representative of the EU did not warm to the idea that Europe, left out of the negotiations, would open its own negotiation link with Russia and send a “European Witkoff” to Moscow.
Kallas justified his position by saying that the Russians currently have no interest in peace.
“So once again we have to put them in a position where they have to negotiate,” Kallas said.
Europe’s negotiating weapons
One of Europe’s trump cards to pressure Russia into peace has been the use of funds frozen by the Russian central bank to support Ukraine.
However, the possible use of the money has been shielded by Belgian opposition.
The EU Commission has tried to negotiate with Belgium and convince it of the legality of the arrangement and the sharing of risks, but so far with poor results.
Prime Minister of Belgium Bart de Wever has sent a letter to the EU Commission, in which he argues that the frozen funds should not be used for the war compensation loan received by Ukraine, as it would have the side effect of the EU practically preventing the creation of a future peace agreement.
Kallas does not consider the war reparations loan based on Russia’s frozen funds to be an obstacle to peace negotiations – on the contrary.
“It sends a three-level message: A strong message to Ukraine that we are there to help them defend themselves. A second message to Moscow that they cannot endure us any longer. A third message to Washington that we are taking very strong and credible steps,” Kallas said
On Monday, he did not want to belittle Belgium’s concerns, but he hoped that the use of the frozen funds would progress because, according to him, it is the best solution compared to a possible joint debt or bilateral support of the member countries.
“We definitely have to move forward, because if I were Russia, I would also try to hold out longer to see if we get funding for Ukraine’s defense or not, and if we don’t get it in the short term, I would come to the negotiating table and demand even more,” Kallas said.
Support for Ukraine.
EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius was satisfied with the support Ukraine received through the SAFE instrument. Stock photo.
PHOTO: OLIVIER HOSLET
EU and Britannia
Monday’s meeting also discussed strengthening European defense, which, according to Kallas, received unanimous support from the defense ministers of the member states.
“We don’t have much time to act. Putin is unlikely to honor any agreement for long, and if we are not strong, it will happen sooner,” Kallas said.
Regarding the strengthening of European defense, 19 EU countries submitted their national defense investment plans for future SAFE projects by Sunday’s deadline.
SAFE is the EU’s joint funding program (Security Action for Europe)in which the Commission borrows 150 billion euros from the market and grants member countries long-term loans for joint defense procurement and for increasing defense industrial production capacity.
15 EU countries, including Finland, have included supporting Ukraine in their SAFE plans.
Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubiliuksen according to the number is higher than previously expected. As for supporting Ukraine, the SAFE sums are about billions, according to him.
Originally, Britain and Canada were also supposed to join the SAFE cooperation.
However, the SAFE negotiations between Britain and the EU collapsed on Friday, when no agreement was reached on how much Britain should pay to participate in EU defense cooperation.
For Finland, the absence of militarily strong Britain is disappointing. However, even without an agreement, Britain can participate in future joint procurements, but only within the 35 percent limit.
However, according to Kauppalehti’s information, the SAFE agreement was created with Canada. In practice, it means that for the first time a third country can participate in joint procurements in EU defense flagship projects.