In an interview with the Associated Press on 11 November, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that the West must continue providing military aid to Ukraine, as he believes “ Russia is planning for a long war in Ukraine.”
He said that the EU and NATO need to prepare “for a very long war” in Ukraine as Russia is mobilizing its economy, resources and military machinery for it. It tried to win the war quickly and realized it couldn’t, and now Moscow wants to “strangle” Ukraine, he said, predicting it will reprise attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the coming months, as it did last winter.
“It is important to actually fight for international peace, and peace in Europe, because if we stop Russia in Ukraine, then Russia is not going to be able to challenge other countries,” he said.
During the interview, the Latvian President also pointed to the disruptive role that Russia’s Wagner mercenary group is playing in Africa and to Russian meetings with officials from Hamas, the Gaza Strip’s ruling militants whose surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people.
He said it is important for the West to support both Ukraine and Israel against attacks on “our values” and the international order. It’s in NATO’s security interests “that both cases are viewed the same way,” he said.
“I do believe also that it will be much easier for us to keep peace in Europe if Ukraine succeeds rather than we let Ukraine down, or for that matter, also to let the situation in the Middle East get out of control,” Rinkēvičs added.
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