UNITED NATIONS — Latvia’s president says Russia is planning a long war in Ukraine, and he has a message for countries wavering on continued military support for Kiev: Keep supplying weapons or Ukrainians will lose and Russia will get the green light have to threaten others’ future.
Edgars Rinkēvičs said in an interview with The Associated Press: “It is important to actually fight for international peace and peace in Europe, because if we stop Russia in Ukraine, Russia will not be able to challenge other countries. “
He pointed to the disruptive role played by the Russian mercenary group Wagner in Africa and to Russian meetings with representatives of Hamas, the militants ruling the Gaza Strip whose surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people.
In July, Rinkēvičs was sworn in as president of Latvia, which was part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in August 1991. The Baltic state with 1.9 million inhabitants joined both the European Union and NATO in 2004, giving it a key position on its eastern flank with its 214-kilometer-long border with Russia.
Rinkēvičs, who served as Latvia’s foreign minister for 13 years before being elected president, said that in the end the alliance agreed to sanction Russia and provide more support, although some members of the 27 EU states “had their say” had to Ukraine because of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“Interestingly, the EU is currently more divided when it comes to the Middle East than Ukraine,” he said in an interview on Thursday.
He said it was important for the West to support both Ukraine and Israel against attacks on “our values” and the international order. He also stressed the need to push for humanitarian pauses in the fighting in the Gaza Strip to help Palestinian civilians, whose numbers have exceeded 11,000 in Israeli retaliation for the Hamas attack, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Rinkēvičs said Iran was “very pleased with this kind of development in the Middle East,” citing Tehran’s supply of weapons and other equipment to Russia for its fight in Ukraine.
It is in NATO’s security interest “that both cases are viewed equally,” he said. “I also believe that it will be much easier for us to maintain peace in Europe if Ukraine succeeds than for us to abandon Ukraine or for it.” It also depends on the situation in the Middle East East is getting out of control.”
Rinkēvičs said Ukrainian soldiers fought “in a very courageous way” and that the West had a responsibility to respond to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeal for more weapons “because we did not provide as much as we should have.”
He said Russia was mobilizing its economy, resources and military machinery “for a very long war.” They tried to win the war quickly, but realized that they couldn’t, and now Moscow wants to “strangle” Ukraine, he said, predicting that it would carry out renewed attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the coming months. as happened last winter.
Rinkēvičs said the EU and NATO must prepare for a long war in Ukraine.
“The EU has recognized that we need more defense and military,” he said. “And at this point I would like to see the process move a little faster. But still, these things are finally moving now.”
But many European NATO members still need to meet the target of spending 2% of GDP on defense, he said, adding that Latvia is expected to spend 2.4% of GDP on defense next year and 3% in 2027. To achieve this, Europe’s industrial defense production must be increased, he added.
Many experts and officials say Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hope is to outlast Western support for Ukraine in a long war.
“I think it is very important that he fails,” Rinkēvičs said.
If the world sees Europe and the United States failing to support Ukraine, “then I think that will increase the pressure on Israel.”
“I also think Iran will be more assertive,” he said. “Let’s not forget the entire Asian region, and let’s not forget Taiwan.”
The Latvian leader said Russia was transforming from an autocracy to a totalitarian regime and resorting to propaganda worse than the Cold War.
They showed “brutal images or videos or animated videos about the destruction of cities in Europe or the United States through the use of nuclear weapons and said that the use of nuclear weapons was actually just child’s play,” he said.
They describe Ukrainians as “a kind of lower humanity – which is very similar to what Nazi Germany said about the Jews,” he added.
Rinkēvičs, who is in New York to present Latvia’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council in 2026-2027, announced in 2014 that he is gay and is one of Europe’s few LGBTQ+ heads of state.
If people can accept a gay head of state, said Rinkēvičs, “then I believe that they will very quickly become more inclusive and open to the entire community.” That is the message that I hope will be received everywhere else. “