Vseviov urges Europe to respond to Russia’s demands with action

Russia’s success in setting the agenda at peace talks in Abu Dhabi should not prompt despair, Social Democratic Party prime ministerial candidate Jonatan Vseviov said, according to ERR. He said Europe must respond to Russia’s demands with concrete action.

Vseviov said the demands concerning Finland and the Baltic states were neither new nor surprising, adding that Russia had voiced them since the start of the war, or even earlier. He said Russia’s goals extended beyond Ukraine to reshaping European security.

“We must be just as firm in saying no as we have been so far,” Vseviov said. But he added that words alone were no longer enough, and that Europe’s security depended on its own decisions and practical steps.

Vseviov said serious discussions about Europe’s security architecture were under way with US involvement. He said the topics being discussed, and the order in which they were raised, matched what Russia had long wanted to discuss.

He said this alone was not a reason to draw definitive, depressing conclusions, but should be a lesson: Europe must act if it wants to shape its own future.

German newspaper Bild reported on Friday that Russia’s proposals for a new European security order, which Moscow wants discussed alongside the drafting of a peace agreement for Ukraine, include demands directly concerning the Baltic states, Finland and Moldova, as well as issues related to Ukraine’s status.