On March 29, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania celebrated the 19th anniversary of joining NATO. The foreign ministers of these states held a trilateral meeting. Edgars Rinkevics commented on the Kremlin's imperialist illness and ongoing nuclear blackmail against Ukraine and the European Union.
Earlier, Putin announced his plans to deploy tactical weapons on the territory of Belarus. Minister Rinkevich called such statements "an act of desperation," since Kaliningrad had nuclear weapons even before 2022, and Russia itself had not achieved success in the war against Ukraine.
"Not in 3 days, not in 3 weeks, not in 3 months, Russian troops failed to capture a single significant city in Ukraine. I believe this is just a continuation of the nuclear blackmail we saw last year. In my opinion, such statements clearly show that Belarus is not a sovereign country. In fact, it is part of the Russian military district," Edgars Rinkevics.
The minister stressed the need to strengthen sanctions against both Russia and Belarus. The Kremlin is trying to call the sanctions work against Russia an "escalation", but this distortion of reality is nothing more than propaganda. Therefore, those who call on their governments not to help Ukraine with weapons should consider whether they have become the target audience of Russian lies.
"I think this kind of rhetoric is not as influential as one might think. To assume that if we do not help Ukraine, Russia will stop and will not escalate is completely wrong. Russia is escalating and it is not going to de-escalate just like that if someone thinks that Ukraine's failure to provide protective equipment will help the political process," Edgars Rinkevics.
"Russia has so far failed politically, militarily and frankly even blackmail."
The minister confirmed what the leaders of other states have said more than once: Putin does not plan to sit down at the negotiating table — his goal is to seize and destroy Ukraine.
