– Russia is already dangerous as the situation is now, says Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap).
This is what Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt says the day before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The American major newspaper Wall Street Journal (WSJ) could report on Wednesday that American intelligence is considering publishing information that China is considering giving weapons to Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.
Promises support until the war is won
Clear message to China
This week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed concern that China will help Russia with weapons.
– I share that concern. We follow very closely, says Huitfeldt to Dagbladet.
She says that Norway has given a clear message to China about what Norway thinks about possible arms deliveries.
– We convey the Norwegian message in meetings with the Chinese authorities. I communicated that when I met the Chinese foreign minister last year, says Huitfeldt.
The foreign minister says it is important that Russia is kept isolated and does not get more help from outside.
– We say clearly what we think about this. We do not want more countries to help Russia. They are relatively isolated and that is good. They are now contributing to more unrest in the world through the way they behave.
New move: – Extremely high risk
– Dangerous neighbor
During a breakfast meeting at the Civita think tank on Thursday, Huitfeldt said that Norway now lives with a neighboring state that is dangerous.
– Norway now has a dangerous neighbour, stated the foreign minister.
– How dangerous is Russia for Norway?
– There is an unpredictability. But we don’t see any changes in the north as the situation is now. The situation is stable. But we have to deal with the fact that Russia is dangerous and that they are unpredictable, says Huitfeldt to Dagbladet.
– Former foreign minister Thorvald Stoltenberg tried to build friendship across the border with Europe after the fall of the wall. We have not succeeded in that, and we have to live with that, said Huitfeldt during the meeting.
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about whether Norway or other western countries might provide fighter jets for Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Huitfeldt evasively answers whether Russia may then come to regard Western countries as a party to the war.
– I do not want to speculate on the possible arms deliveries coming from Western countries now.
– Should have stopped the fade
– Total failure
During the breakfast meeting, Huitfeldt said that any donations of fighter aircraft are about building up a future air force for Ukraine, and are not something that will help the country in the war in the short term.
From the stage, Huitfeldt also passed a harsh judgment on President Vladimir Putin’s judgments when he chose to invade the neighboring country.
– It was a major strategic misjudgment. All the plans for Kyiv to be captured with fifth colonists, for them to enter from Belarus, all these plans fell apart. It turned out that Ukraine had much greater resilience than Putin expected.
– He was looking to strike quickly, it was a total failure, says the foreign minister.
Russia has been hit back enormously and the West has responded enormously, Huitfeldt sums up.
