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NATO would be the best guarantee for Ukraine’s security, said the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas yesterday, Thursday, to the French News Agency, taking a stance opposite to that of Donald Trump.
During the interview she gave in Washington, the vice president of the European Commission also warned that Europeans would not be able to contribute to a possible agreement for Ukraine if they are not invited to the negotiation table, while the American president negotiates directly with the Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
For Ms. Kallas, the first woman to become the prime minister of Estonia, a Soviet republic until 1991, neighboring Russia, NATO countries have never attacked Russia, which “fears democracy.”
“Why are we in NATO? Because we fear Russia. And the only thing that truly works, the only security guarantee that works, is NATO’s umbrella,” she insisted.
The American president ruled out the possible integration of Ukraine into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Moscow opposes, and remains ambiguous about the security guarantees that the U.S. government is willing to offer Kiev in case of a truce agreement, three years after the Russian military invasion of Ukrainian territory.
Donald Trump has also judged that NATO was “probably the reason all this started.”
“These accusations are completely false,” Ms. Kallas countered. “This is the Russian narrative, which we shouldn’t believe.”
And why, she wondered, “should we give Russia whatever it wants beyond what it has already done, attacking Ukraine, annexing territories and occupying lands,” should it be given “even more”?
“Imagine the US after September 11 (2001) sitting at the table with Osama Bin Laden and saying: ‘okay, do you want anything else?’ It’s unimaginable,” she hinted.
Russia insists that the US had promised after the end of the cold war that NATO would not expand.
The High Representative of the EU for foreign and security policy is in Washington, where, however, she did not have a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, officially due to scheduling and timeline issues – as transatlantic relations undergo tensions.
The American president often criticizes his European allies in NATO, particularly accusing them of not bearing their rightful share of the burden.
Mr. Trump, expected to sign an agreement on Ukrainian minerals with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington today, seemed so far unwilling to offer US security guarantees to Kiev, judging that it should be up to the Europeans.
On the other hand, for Ms. Kallas, “Europeans must participate” in the negotiation and in any agreement. “Without that, we cannot offer anything,” insisted the Estonian.
Additionally, she criticized Mr. Trump’s view that the European Union was founded to exploit the US, a position she called “incredible” and contrary to “common transatlantic values.”
She also referred to the significant cuts in US humanitarian aid abroad and estimated that Europe “will not be able to fill the gap.” However, she added, the world “turns to us” and asks if Europe can do more. “I believe we must increase our geopolitical power,” said Kaja Kallas, calling for Europe, in the face of US introversion, to choose extroversion, to “turn outwards.” (28/02/2025)