Europe needs to convince the United States to keep its focus on Russia's war against Ukraine. This was stated by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in an interview with POLITICO, UNN reports.
Europe needs to do its homework. One of them is obvious... European NATO countries need to build a strong enough defense, and not just hope that the United States will be a provider of strong defense and pay for strong defense.
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Kristersson emphasized the need for Europe to do its part to convince the United States to focus on Russia's war against Ukraine. The Swedish prime minister also added that the EU should also unite when it comes to supporting Ukraine to convince Washington to increase its support.
Another key issue today, according to Kristersson, is working with the United States on its main strategic problem: China.
The other part of this lesson is to pay attention also to America's legitimate security interests in other parts of the world. If we want the United States to be committed to Europe, we need to realize that the United States has other concerns. ... I think that European countries need to learn and understand more about the security situation in the Pacific, understand what is happening in China, what threats China poses to other Asian countries."
Christersson noted that Europe needs to reduce its dependence on China in strategic sectors to better align with the American approach. "You need a very broad view of security. Military things are one thing, but we also have security issues in terms of dependencies - dependencies on trade, dependencies on raw materials - things that I think the United States has been more alert to," Kristersson said.
He also emphasized that the more democracies around the world can come together and cooperate, and sometimes challenge China's ways of doing things, the better.
The Swedish leader also raised the topic of Pope Francis' proposal that Ukraine should have the courage to raise a "white flag" and emphasized the danger of such theses.
It is very dangerous... not to see the difference between surrender and peace. Peace requires much more than just surrender.
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Speaking to POLITICO, Kristersson pledged full support for the Baltic states as allies. Basing troops in the Baltic region, which is constantly threatened by the Kremlin, would be a "very natural" potential option, he added
Regarding Sweden's plans for how it will engage with NATO, Kristersson said his country first needs to discuss this with the alliance. However, he did not rule out sending Swedish troops to NATO's Baltic states, joining existing multinational forward presence brigades. "We have noted several things as potential, very natural [with] the Baltic states, both in terms of air control and other tasks," he said, emphasizing Sweden's submarine capabilities in the Baltic Sea, a crucial area of operation for the Russian navy around Kaliningrad.
He also emphasized Sweden's strong defense industry as the country's role in preparing the security of the alliance. "We are bringing a military-industrial base," Kristersson said. "It's ... integrated with our own capabilities, but I think that this base, this technology base, is useful for other allies.