During the meeting, Rinkevičs called on EU member states to provide all possible political, military, humanitarian and financial support to Ukraine. He underlined that Latvia supports Ukraine in the processes of European integration and reform.
Rinkevičs stressed that it is necessary to decide immediately on the practical future, including EU macro-financial support to Ukraine and create sustainable EU support systems.
In his view, it is also important to urgently and inclusively develop a global coordination platform. The minister expressed Latvia’s support for the decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on launching the EU military support mission in Ukraine and approving specialized measures of the European Peace Mechanism in the amount of €16 million.
Rinkevičs noted that the EU should continue the political, economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia, including by tightening sanctions. He stressed that as a result of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the current basis of EU-Russia relations has been lost.
“It will not be possible to go back to previous relations, so the EU needs to change the paradigm in its relations with Russia. Deterrence, strategic independence from Russia and strengthening resilience should be the basis of EU policy. We need to strengthen Russia’s resilience neighboring countries,” Rinkevichs said.
The meeting also discussed the Western Balkans, in particular the forthcoming EU-Western Balkans summit, which will be held on 6 December this year in Tirana, the capital of Albania.
Rinkevičs noted that Russia’s war in Ukraine has shed light on the vulnerability of the Western Balkan region and redefined the geopolitical and strategic importance of the EU enlargement process. To mitigate the consequences of the Russian war, it is important to strengthen cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkans and continue to include the countries of the region in EU initiatives. However, all countries in the region are required to act in accordance with EU values. For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to implement the reforms identified in the European Commission’s assessment to move forward on the path of EU integration.
CONTEXT:
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to start invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine. Putin claimed that NATO would use Ukraine as a springboard for aggression against Russia, although there was no evidence for these claims. Ukraine believes Putin’s real goal is to destroy Ukraine’s statehood and bring the territory under Moscow’s control.
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