The West must change its message on supporting Ukraine from “as long as it takes” to “whatever victory takes” if it wants to deter Russia from attacking the Baltic states, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday (18 January).
“It would be good, speaking about the messages to Putin, to commit not just to ‘as long as it takes’, but change it to ‘victory’ and ‘whatever it takes’ – I think that’s a very strong deterring message to Vladimir Putin,” Landsbergis said, speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos where the war in Ukraine has dominated discussions.
According to him, the West should also significantly increase the military equipment it sends to Ukraine to deter Russia from further escalation.
Citing Poland’s example, Landsbergis said Warsaw has ordered “about 1,000 Abrams tanks from the United States, about 500 HIMARS systems, and about 40 Patriot systems.”
“Poland is roughly the same size, the same population as Ukraine, and Poland has NATO’s Article 5 – it gives you an idea of what a military planner is planning to have in case Russia attacks, and this is what we need to pledge if we are committed to the first fact that we want to win,” Landsbergis said.
Western countries must ask themselves, “What kind of message are we sending to Putin?” he said.
“Are we deterring, or are we inviting [him]? And this is where the anxiety of the Baltic states and most likely Poland comes from: The problem is that we don’t feel that Putin is deterred enough,” Landsbergis added.
(Alexandra Brzozowski | Euractiv.com)
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