As of: March 29, 2024, 1:22 p.m
By: Sarah El Sheimy
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The foreign minister of the new NATO member Sweden joins the opponents of a ground troop deployment in Ukraine - and still wants more offensive.
Stockholm - French President Emmanuel Macron's statements about sending soldiers to Ukraine recently sparked a major controversy in NATO member states. Many politicians expressed their lack of understanding. The foreign minister of the new NATO member Sweden, Tobias Billström, has now joined these voices and rejected Macron's considerations. In the same breath, he called on the supporting states to help Ukraine with more commitment.
“The French proposal to train Ukrainian personnel on Ukrainian soil is out of the question for Sweden,” Billström told
Euractiv
. At the end of February, Macron initially did not rule out the deployment of NATO troops and later mentioned a specific scenario for such an operation at a meeting with French party leaders. As
Euractiv
reports, Billström implied that Sweden does not view the debate that has broken out within NATO states following the French president's statements as pointless.
Tobias Billstrom © Armin Durgut/IMAGO
Instead of Macron's ground troop advance: Sweden wants more arms deliveries
Instead of deploying NATO soldiers, the member states should strengthen their solidarity in other ways. Billström told
Euractiv
that “more strategic difficulties” should be created for Russia. Sweden will particularly work to provide greater deterrence and use its strategically important role in the Baltic Sea.
He also discussed a possible reorganization of the Baltic Sea Council for security issues. Russia is a neighboring country that behaves irresponsibly, threatens to use nuclear weapons and wants to rebuild “its old empire” at the expense of independent states. “We have to put an end to this.”
As
Euractiv
reports, Billström appealed to NATO member states to recognize the urgent need for action. The war in Ukraine must be stopped, the Ukrainian troops would need “more of almost everything”. He described corresponding military deliveries as a political rather than a capacity question.
Ceremony with obstacles: Sweden's military raised the NATO flag in front of its headquarters on Monday © IMAGO/Jessica Gow/TT
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reported in mid-March that Russia produces three times as much ammunition as the USA and its European supporting states combined. A NATO official even spoke of a “production war.” Currently, Ukraine has been waiting for new military aid from the United States for several months. A blockade in the US Congress is blocking new deliveries.
Foreign Minister Tobias Billström not only spoke out in favor of more active action, but also criticized the European Union's own initiatives. European defense must be done together with NATO and the USA, he told
Euractiv
. In this context, he also rejected EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's proposal to create the position of her own EU defense commissioner.
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