Latvian FM urges Europe to not pressure Ukraine into 'making concessions' to end war

Touting a fearless stance against Russia and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s ‘special military operation' in Ukraine, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs on Wednesday said that the European leaders must not be deterred by a fear of provoking the Kremlin leader. The Latvian diplomat also called on the international community to not pressure Ukraine into making any concessions to end the war which has now entered day 113. 

In an exclusive interview with CNN in Washington, Rinkēvičs, who is visiting the US, critiqued the European leaders without naming anyone. According to the Latvian Foreign Minister, some leaders in Europe have a “fear” of vexing Putin and said he was referring to “those who are well-known from time to time openly saying that they don't want to see him humiliated or that we need to provide some off-ramp” which appeared to be a jibe at French President Emmanuel Macron. 

In June, Macron had said that “We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means”. But, Rinkēvičs called the French President’s suggested approach “not rational”. The Latvian Foreign Minister told the media outlet that the “mentality in many of the capitals needs to be changed”.

Rinkēvičs further noted that the diplomatic outreach by world leaders to the Russian President to end the war had not led to a ceasefire. The Latvian Foreign Minister said he believed that the Russians “can be stopped only by Ukrainians, only by them fighting”. He also said that the Russia-Ukraine war was bigger than Putin and stated that Moscow would not be able to commit the war “without the support of the population ... without this kind of brainwashing of the people via propaganda channels”.

‘Nobody should push Ukraine to provide concessions to Russia’

Moreover, Rinkēvičs told CNN that “nobody should push Ukraine to provide concessions to Russia.” Reportedly, these concessions refer to the measures such as ceding territory to Moscow to stop the conflict. According to the Latvian Foreign Minister, it would not yield any permanent deterrent to future Russian military aggression. 

"Let's not make this mistake again. Russia is not making this war about NATO expansion or keeping Ukraine out of NATO or EU. It's about destroying Ukraine, getting land, restoring the empire," he said.

Rinkēvičs said that in a bid to prevent any future military aggression by Russia, Moscow “needs to be in a situation where its war and economic machine is in such a state that it cannot launch any military offensive operation”. He said that even though the sanctions will not end the current war, they would prevent a future conflict.

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