Kaja Kallas has warned that growing support for parties which minimise the Russian threat could leave Europe unable to defend itself. She also said Russia’s approaching State Duma elections could bring further provocations on EU soil.
The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said that Germany’s democratic choice had to be respected following the AfD’s landslide victory in Saxony-Anhalt. However, she expressed concern that parties which were “blind” to the security threat and claimed it was not Europe’s concern were gaining ground. She did not explicitly name the AfD in that part of her response.
“I’m just afraid that we might wake up in a situation where we haven’t done enough to be able to deter the threats and defend ourselves,” she said during a visit to Lithuania on Monday.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius called the German result a “wake-up call” for established parties. However, he said it would not fundamentally change relations between Lithuania and Germany. Berlin remains one of Lithuania’s most important security partners and leads a NATO brigade stationed in the country.
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Ms Kallas placed her warning about political support in the context of increasingly frequent Russian hybrid activity across Europe. She pointed to the attempted drone attack at Leipzig-Halle Airport, which German authorities attributed to Russia.
“With Russia’s parliamentary elections approaching, we must be ready for further provocations on European soil,” she said after the meeting. “We are likely to see more attacks like the one in Leipzig.”
During the joint press appearance, Mr Sinkevičius called for greater EU funding for countries facing hybrid attacks. He highlighted airspace violations, sabotage and migration organised through Belarus. “Russia is testing our resolve and seeking to intimidate us into backing away from our support for Ukraine,” he later wrote on Facebook
We might wake up in a situation where we haven’t done enough to be able to deter the threats and defend ourselves.
— Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief
He described the EU’s eastern flank as Europe’s first line of defence but stressed that the threat extended beyond the Baltic region and required a united European response.
Ms Kallas backed faster implementation of Eastern Flank Watch, an EU initiative intended to strengthen surveillance and defence along the bloc’s borders with Russia and Belarus. She argued that Lithuania’s experience should help shape the programme.