Reform MP: Macron, Scholz should see Russia's war on Ukraine at first hand
Riigikogu foreign affairs committee chair Marko Mihkelson (Reform) says that French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, should personally pay a visit to Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, to see at first hand the nature of Russia's war of destruction.
Mihkelson made his remarks while appearing on ETV current affairs show "Ringvaade" and in the context of the leadership of some western countries calling for Ukraine to make concessions to the Russian Federation.
Mihkelson said. "I would say that this is the moment at which there should be some looking in the mirror in the western capitals, and asking of themselves what the future of these politicians is, especially the leaders of the great powers, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and others."
"I would highly recommend that Macron and Scholz take train tickets from Lviv to Kyiv, as a matter of urgency and travel around the Ukrainian capital and see with their own eyes what the war of destruction in Russia really is about."
"Generally speaking, it is understood that their work is primarily aimed at peace in the world, for stability and for the values space that we in the EU are working with as partners, allies, in NATO, in the same way to be secure.
"There is only one way to achieve this today: To support Ukraine in its war of independence, so that it can maintain, protect and restore its territorial integrity," he went on.
He added that the Russian regime is likely to lose the war strategically speaking.
Mihkelson added that France and Germany have very lengthy experience in relations with Russia, so they should understand what works for Russia, and what does not: "Especially in the situation we are in today, where Russia has started a war of annihilation against an independent state and is actually threatening global nuclear war."
"If there is to be an attitude now that we need to tread carefully, perhaps because they are going to resort to nuclear weapons, for instance, or, using the war in Ukraine, creating a food and migration crisis, a famine in Africa and driving millions of people away, so that perhaps we will somehow still have to apply the handbrake somewhere, then let us take a look at Macron's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, who, in 2008, halted the Georgian war via a truce."
"Was this followed by a situation whereby Georgia regained its territorial integrity, and did we deter Putin from further aggression?" Mihkelson asked rhetorically.
There are also differing opinions among Europe's leaders, Mihkelson added. Polish President Andrzej Duda, for instance, recently said that only Ukraine can decide on its own future.
However, Mihkelson said that the voice of the Ukrainian people is louder than all these voices.
"In fact, there are the voices of men and women fighting for freedom throughout Europe, but which from time to time we tend to overlook, as the media comes up with news from elsewhere, and we then tend to forget that there is a war in Europe on a scale which has not been seen since World War II."
"700,000 men and women are currently fighting for Europe, and for as long as 82 percent of Ukrainians today say they are in no way in favor of territorial surrender to Russia in order to achieve a kind of peace or truce, this is the voice that everyone should listen to," Mihkelson added.
Macron has warned against "humiliating" Russia in its largely failed invasion of Ukraine; Scholz, who was in South Africa yesterday, has called for an end to the war in the interests of the whole world.
Then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy brokered a deal with then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, for the end of the 12-day Georgian War of August 2008. At the time, Medvedev said that the Kremlin's recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia itself was "irrevocable".
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Editor: Andrew Whyte