Sweden’s top diplomat Maria Malmer Stenergard is urging the Western allies to ramp up support for Ukraine and to further pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to get him to the negotiating table.
“It’s obvious that Russia doesn’t want peace now. Ukraine has been willing to discuss a peace and show that they’re really willing to find a way forward,” Stenergard said on Friday in Washington after meeting with senior US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department.
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According to her, US “might also have realized” that there is no such thing as a quick end to the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. “We have to prepare for this to be a bit longer than we thought,” she said speaking at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think-tank, Friday evening.
“And we should never be naive as regards Russia. They will only take a deal when we make them take a deal, not because they want to take a deal. So, we have to be prepared,” she emphasized.
Stenergard’s comments came as Putin on Friday doubled down his justification of the war, reviving a controversial narrative, claiming that theoretically “all of Ukraine is ours.”
The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov even went further by suggesting that Moscow would not not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, claiming it now has the “strategic advantage” on the battlefield and intends to keep advancing.
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When pressed by Kyiv Post’s correspondent for Washington’s reaction, State Department’s spokesperson Tammy Bruce refused to comment on Russian officials’ statements, saying that “we’re not going to listen to what they say, we’re going to watch what they do.”
“This is about dealing with certain situations in a complex manner,” Bruce added.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Stenergard believes that partners around the world who believe in rules-based world order and territorial integrity should invest in Ukraine and make sure that it can win the war, “or at least get an acceptable peace that can also be long term.”
“We also need to increase pressure on Russia,” she said, emphasizing that supporting Ukraine has been Sweden’s main foreign policy priority.
“We are now stepping up, and the Nordic countries are really in the forefront here,” she said, adding that Western allies’ investments in defense should be “one side of the coin, and supporting Ukraine is the other side of the coin.”
“This is equally important, because the threat from Russia is a real threat to us and once they are done in Ukraine – if there is not a sustainable and long term peace, then they will only go back, regroup, get stronger and attack again, and that might be even closer to us,” she added.
Stenergard went on to add that in case of any ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine, there must be some sort of security guarantees. Sweden is a part of the “Coalition of the Willing” and is ready to contribute its best if and when needed. In the meantime, the foreign minister predicted that there is “going to have to be some sort of US backstop, unfortunately.”
She concluded: “I believe that for many, many years, Russia will be a real threat to Europe and Sweden, and that is why we are doing this historic investment in our in our own defense.”