Finnish Foreign Minister: sending troops to Ukraine cannot be ruled out in the future
Finland and the Baltic states welcomed the words of French President Emmanuel Macron about sending troops to Ukraine. Despite the fact that officials do not want to discuss this step now, they emphasize that in the long term it is impossible to abandon this idea. At the same time, some officials doubt that words will be followed by actions and France will fulfill its "rhetorical promises."
French President Emmanuel Macron was right in his remarks about sending troops to Ukraine, because he forced Russia to talk about the limits of Western support for Kiev. This was stated by Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen to the Financial Times.
According to Valtonen, the statements of the French leader were not a mistake at all. However, she stressed that the time for this step has not yet come.
Valtonen also noted that she does not know what the conflict will lead to and what will happen in the future, so there is no need to "reveal all the cards."
Macron wins the favor of the Baltic states
The FT writes that Macron, with his own words, "won the favor of advanced NATO members" after France ignored the security interests of Central and Eastern Europe for many years. His attempt to create "strategic ambiguity" was welcomed in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
"What I liked about President Macron's two recent statements was that he asked why we should impose red lines on ourselves when Putin practically has none," Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrid Shimonite said.
The head of the Latvian Seimas Commission on Foreign Affairs, Zhigimantas Pavlenis, stressed that in the absence of
Macron took a wise step in Churchillian thinking. And this, according to the deputy of the Latvian parliament, shows that the French president hears and understands the Baltic countries.
In Estonia, they believe that the statement of the French president "woke up the leaders of Europe a little." At the same time, Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhkna stressed that it is now "safer to send weapons and money" to Ukraine, rather than the military.
"This is (Macron's statement about sending troops to Ukraine. - "Newspaper.En") makes Putin worry about what Europe can actually do. Such non-standard thinking is useful," Tsakhkna added.
The statement was inconclusive
However, despite the fact that officials from Finland and the Baltic states say that France is restoring the trust of the region with its active support for Ukraine, many continue to doubt that words will be followed by deeds. Some Baltic officials, as the FT writes, say that they are more confident in Germany's growing contribution to regional security.
The newspaper quotes one of the European ambassadors to the Baltic States, who noted that he "admires Macron's gesture," but is not sure whether France will fulfill its "rhetorical promises."
One of the Baltic military officials also stressed that the French president's statement, although it created "the first strategic dilemma for Russia," was weak. And it seems that France has not thought very well about what will follow.
NATO partners disagree
Macron's idea still has opponents. It was not supported in Germany, Italy, the UK and the USA. The head of the Italian Defense Ministry, Guido Crosetto, in an interview with La Stampa newspaper, said that the deployment of troops to Ukraine would be a step towards unilateral escalation. And this, in turn, will block the path to diplomacy.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed that NATO does not want the conflict to turn into a confrontation between the alliance and Russia, and therefore sending troops is excluded.
The United States is also talking about the risk of a collision with the Russian Federation in the event of the entry of a military contingent into the territory of Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, Macron's statement angered American officials. Separate sources of the agency reported that the words of the French president were not very reasonable from the point of view of operational security.
The United States does not officially comment on Bloomberg's information - State Department spokesman Matthew Miller refused to say anything on this issue. However, he once again stressed that the United States is not going to send troops to Ukraine.
Eva Vishnevskaya