Baltic, Benelux foreign ministers rule out EU weapons aid for Ukraine for now
The foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Estonia met in Tallinn on Wednesday, saying that on the EU-level, Ukraine should not yet be given military aid.
The ministers also said each individual country can still decide to give weapons or other military aid to the troubled nation.
“Estonia can not offer the type of military help Ukraine needs,” Estonian Foreign Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus said.
Linas Linkevičius, the Lithuanian foreign minister, said one way to move forward is to tighten sanctions and politically isolate Russia even further. He said Ukraine should be given political, financial and military aid.
“I think we are of the same opinion that a strong message needs to be sent to those who broke the cease-fire, namely the Russian-supported separatists,” Dutch FM Bert Koenders said.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Slovenian counterpart Miro Cerar, who were also both in Tallinn, said for now they prefer to carry on with new sanctions as opposed to military help.
Editor: J.M. Laats