Kaag: Putin plays the ultimate dangerous game | Inland

Kaag wants “in the short term: see whether the Netherlands should spend more money on defense, now that the situation has changed so drastically because of the war in Ukraine,” she said. In her role as party leader, she says “it is important that we do more. You don’t get peace and security for free.”

Kaag – now finance minister but in the past a top diplomat and foreign minister – said on Sunday evening at OP1 that Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing an “ultimately dangerous game” by threatening with nuclear weapons. According to Kaag, there is a risk that ‘we will drift further due to a mistake or escalation’ on the Russian side.

When asked whether the Netherlands is prepared for a nuclear war, Kaag replied that the threat from Russia is ‘very dangerous’, but that we as the European Union and NATO must also act calmly and in a de-escalating manner.

‘Powerful’

Since the war broke out, the EU’s response has been “strong,” said the minister. “But we don’t know yet whether it’s enough.” Poland, among others, had previously criticized the EU’s sanctions packages. These would not go far enough, for example because Russian banks would keep access to the international payment system SWIFT. A number of banks have now been excluded from this system.

Kaag said that the Netherlands is looking at, among other things, Russian trust parties in the Netherlands. Financial sanctions may also be linked to this. It remains unclear when and how that will happen.

Completely unclear

Kaag also does not want to say what the Netherlands will do if Russia actually proceeds to a nuclear attack and NATO, for example, wants to retaliate. She emphasizes that there is no nuclear war now, “but the threat at all is a first step.”

It is also unclear what actions the Dutch cabinet will take if such an action is initiated and what preparations are (or not) made for this. It also remains completely unclear what communication (and preparations) – in the event of an imminent nuclear attack – to the Dutch population will look like in the coming period.

Core task The Netherlands

The Netherlands has a so-called core task within NATO: if NATO decides to deploy a nuclear weapon, the Netherlands will help. NATO has repeatedly emphasized not to fight against Russia, as long as NATO member states are not attacked. Kaag also says that he does not want to speculate about this scenario.

Kaag said he would like to map out whether (and which) measures can be taken to meet the costs of rising energy bills in the Netherlands. “That hits people in their wallets,” said the minister. She states, among other things, that it is looking at ‘European level’ to see which compensation schemes can be set up for this.

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