Rødt Group Leader Calls Jens Stoltenberg a War Criminal, Sparks Controversy

Jens Stoltenberg was hanged as a war criminal from the podium at Rødt’s national meeting on Saturday. It creates strong reactions from the Labor Party

– Weapons are not the way to peace, as the war criminal Jens Stoltenberg has said. To think that more weapons will bring peace is a utopia. That was said by Siavash Mobasheri, group leader in Rødt in Oslo, during the debate on arms support to Ukraine at Rødt’s national meeting on Saturday.

The statement does not go down well with City Councilor Raymond Johansen in Oslo.

– This does not create a better climate for cooperation and negotiations. But helps to create greater distance. Municipal politics is not foreign policy, but here Rødt shows a side of himself that makes it very demanding to cooperate, says Johansen in a written statement to NTB, conveyed via his secretary.

Must be fine

To Aftenposten says Johansen that he expects the management in Rødt to condemn such statements. That is unlikely to happen. Rødt leader Bjørnar Moxnes says the accusation against Stoltenberg is within.

– Red was against the illegal war in Libya, in violation of international law, where 15 Norwegian F-16 aircraft dropped a total of 588 bombs over Libya. Jens Stoltenberg was chiefly responsible for this. It must be good to point that out, says Moxnes to Aftenposten.

Far from reality

Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt also reacts strongly.

– There is something far from reality about the political judgment in the Red party. Moxnes himself voted against Sweden and Finland being allowed to join NATO after democratic decisions to apply for membership. Of course we will assist Ukraine to protect Ukrainians from the Putin regime’s rockets, she writes in an SMS to Aftenposten.

In January, there was also a heated exchange between Mobasheri and Johansen. At the time, the city council leader told Klassekampen that the outbursts about Ukraine from Mobasheri made it less tempting to cooperate more closely with Rødt in Oslo, and that the party was in practice running Putin’s errands by refusing to send weapons to the country.

Vantro

Oslo Frp’s first candidate Lars Petter Solås reacts with disbelief to the statements from Rødt’s Oslo representatives.

– Red Oslo shows its true anti-democratic face when they say at the national meeting that they will leave Ukraine helpless against Russia’s brutal war of aggression.

He believes that Rødt’s group leader takes the Norwegian record for dual communication.

– He says that Ukrainians should be left to their own devices, just days after he helped decide that Oslo supports their fight for freedom and democracy.

Solås refers to Rødt’s city council group in Oslo on Wednesday this week voting for a statement expressing support for Ukraine’s fight against the Russians:

“The municipality of Oslo expresses solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their heroic struggle for freedom and democracy against the brutal invasion from Russia.”

The statement was adopted with 58 out of 59 votes. The only abstention was independent representative Danny Chaudhry. He says to Oslo newspaper that he does not think Russia’s invasion is brutal.