European Union foreign ministers have reacted to Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s threat that Russia is ready for war with Europe. They said this while speaking to journalists as they arrived for a meeting at NATO headquarters on 3 December.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said he believed such statements “should not be taken seriously”.
“He is using his typical tactics to play with our fears,” Tsahkna said. – I think Putin is deeply concerned if he doesn’t succeed in pushing Ukraine back and making an agreement so that Ukraine is under restrictions s strong pressure, and vice versa, if we are willing to use frozen Russian assets, if we put more pressure on Russia regarding sanctions, and if the EU is preparing tariffs on all imports from Belarus and Russia, we have something to pressurise.”
Dutch Foreign Minister David van Wiel said Putin’s comments were “terrible” and said he hoped “this will not be realised”. “But let’s take this as a serious warning that increasing our defence spending is not something ‘for show’, it is a necessity for the region and Europe,” he stressed.
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said she “did not advise anyone to listen to Russian propaganda and disinformation”.
“Putin called his” red lines ” before the war, during it, changed them. Our job is to make sure that we as NATO are as strong as we have been, we have kept the peace since NATO was created. That is our task and that is what we will do,” Brazier said.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide pointed out that NATO does not want war with anyone, but there “have been ready for 76 years.” “And in the 76 years of NATO’s existence, no other state has attacked a NATO country, because of the fact that we are always ready to defend ourselves and we are the strongest military alliance in history,” he said.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stanergaard, reacting to Putin’s words, said: “my conclusion is that we need to increase our military investments.”
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen emphasised: “This is rhetoric that Russia is using to intimidate us and we should not take these words too seriously. We have very strong capabilities as Europe and NATO and we are building them up on a daily basis and Russia is in the opposite position where it is desperately looking to build up capabilities for a war it should not have started.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Burdis said Putin was projecting his willingness to intervene in a wider conflict with NATO. “On the one hand, when we listen to him, we should divide this by two and then by 10 – Of course, this is propaganda and intimidation of us. on the other hand, we should take the words seriously – we heard his demands in 2021,” the minister said.
On 2 December, before talks on a plan to end the war against Ukraine with a US delegation, notably US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin said Moscow was not going to go to war with Europe, but if Europe starts a war – Russia is “ready right now”.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said the Kremlin’s threats to Europe are likely aimed at deterring its participation in the peace process, as well as undermining the strengthening of its defence capabilities.