Finland’s president Sunday urged the rearming of Ukraine and putting “maximum pressure on Russia” through sanctions and asset freezes. On the final day of Munich Security Conference, Alexander Stubb and other European leaders sought to plot how the EU can move from talk to more action and stay relevant as Washington pushes to stop war.
He laid out three phases: “pre-negotiation,” ceasefire and long-term peace negotiation. “First phase is the pre-negotiation, and this is a moment when we need to rearm Ukraine and put maximum pressure on Russia so that Ukraine begins these negotiations from a position of strength,” he said. “I think in Europe we need to talk less and do more.”
President Edgars Rinkevics of Latvia, which like Finland borders Russia, agreed that “if we are strong, if we have something to offer … then we are going to be interesting to the US. If you just continue having those nice conferences, talking and whining, then we are not going to be interesting to our own publics very soon. AP.