‘No space and place for complacency' over European defence, Latvian defence minister tells Euronews
'Russia is an aggressive country, this is an existential threat to all of us, and investments of course, must be made right now,' he told Euronews on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Asked if Europe could successfully ramp up its defence before the end of the decade, when intelligence services have warned Russia could have the means to attack a European NATO ally, he said: 'Yes, I believe so.'
'I think the important part is to be ready in that any aggressiveness from Russia can just come now and we have to be resilient and we have to build. Of course, it's an ongoing process.'
'And let's not underestimate who we are, let's not underestimate what we have done. But also, of course, there is no space and place for complacency,' he said.
He said the EU must expand its defence industry base and build up its capabilities.
EU nations don't yet agree on financing options
EU leaders are expected to approve measures to boost joint defence spending at a summit in late June, following the release on 19 March by the Commission of a White Paper on Defence in which the EU's executive should outline the options it sees as most viable to boost financing and the capabilities the bloc needs more urgently.
'We have to understand that the investment in the military is absolutely crucial for all of us. And here, unfortunately, I see sometimes diversity among European nations,' Spruds said.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday in Munich that she will propose to activate the escape clause in the bloc's fiscal rules to allow member states to 'substantially' increase their defence expenditures. But the measure requires unanimity from member states to be approved.
Other options that the EU is looking into include an expansion of the European Investment Bank's mandate to allow more investments in defence and for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rules to be loosened so that private banks can also pour more money into the sector.
More controversially, some member states have also called for the issuing of co-called Eurobonds - an instrument inaugurated during the pandemic to raise money to support COVID-stricken economies - to fund joint defence projects, and for EU funds to be primarily used to buy from and therefore support European manufacturers. Baltic countries are generally positive towards the former but reticent on the latter proposal.
Air defence, ammunition, drones
For Spruds, joint EU funding should be used to boost air defence - for which systems can have billion euro price tags - as well as more 'practical things like ammunition'.
The EU infamously failed to fulfill its pledge to deliver one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine in the year ending in March 2024. Ammunition production initiatives since then are going in the right direction, Spruds told Euronews, and Latvia 'expect(s) it to take place on a much wider scale also in the future'.
But EU funds should also fund innovation in defence, and close the funding gap with the US, including the development of new drone capabilities, where the bloc can get an edge thanks to the experiences and know-how gathered by Ukrainians on the battlefield, Spruds said.
Latvia and the UK are co-leading a drone coalition that gathers 17 countries and donations of around €2 billion and which provides aerial unmanned devices to Ukraine, with the Baltic country also providing testing grounds.
'Last year we made big steps, considerable steps in building up our drone army,' Spruds told Euronews. 'But we have to make the next steps, which include land drones, and also drones in the sea.'
'What we have experienced in recent months, in recent years, once more underlines that the technologies can be very helpful, very valuable and very efficient also in helping protect critical infrastructure objects in places where it's sometimes difficult to arrive quickly,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
10 minutes ago
- Euronews
US, Germany agree to deliver five Patriot defence systems to Ukraine
Germany and the United States have agreed to deliver five Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine, Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday. Speaking during the 29th Ukraine Defence Contact Group, Pistorius said he reached the agreement with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth during a recent trip to Washington. That announcement comes as Russia ramps up its campaign of long-range strikes on Ukraine, including using ballistic missiles that only the Patriot system can shoot down. Overnight into Monday, Russian strikes pounded Ukraine's capital Kyiv, killing one person and injuring at least six, according to authorities. The large-scale drone and missile attack caused several fires to break out across the city, including in residential buildings, a children's day care, outdoor kiosks and a metro station, local officials said. The announcement from Pistorius also comes after US President Donald Trump said on 11 July that Washington would send advanced weapons, including Patriots, to Ukraine via NATO, marking a sharp 180-degree turn after a brief pause in arms shipments by the Pentagon. "We're going to be sending Patriots to NATO and then NATO will distribute that," Trump told US TV channel CBS News, adding that the alliance would pay for the systems. The Patriot missile system can detect and intercept a wide range of oncoming air targets, high-end ballistic missiles in particular, and is regarded as one of the world's best, at a time when Moscow is increasing its nightly missile and drone attacks amid its all-out war against Ukraine, now well into its fourth year. Coordination with partners on the systems' delivery will continue in the coming days, Pistorius said. Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome last week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Germany would pay for two of the systems, while Norway has agreed to supply one. On Monday, Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said his country stands ready to help fund Patriot systems for Ukraine. One of NATO's founding member countries, Norway has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, pledging both to donate F-16 fighter jets to the country as well as a $7 billion (€5.9 billion) aid plan spread across five years. The US-built Patriot missile systems are a vital part of Ukraine's air defences and can intercept both ballistic and cruise missiles, providing protection against large-scale strikes on urban settlements. Trump said on 16 July that Patriot shipments to Ukraine had already started, but the German Defence Ministry initially denied any knowledge of the transfers. Washington has already sent three Patriot batteries to Ukraine, with Germany providing a further three. An additional battery has come from a European coalition, though not all of the systems are currently operational due to routine maintenance rotations. On 17 July, Switzerland said the US Defence Department had informed it that Washington is diverting a Swiss order for Patriot air defence systems to help Ukraine, which it badly needs to improve its response to increasingly heavy Russian aerial attacks. It was not immediately clear whether the Swiss-ordered Patriots would go directly to Ukraine or would replace units in other European countries that may be donated to Kyiv. Delivery to Switzerland of the systems, worth billions of dollars, was scheduled to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2028. But the Swiss government said Washington informed it of the delay on Wednesday, adding that it was unclear how many systems would be affected. The need to adequately arm Ukraine's military is pressing as Russia looks to drive forward its summer offensive and pounds Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles.
LeMonde
41 minutes ago
- LeMonde
UK sanctions 135 oil tankers in Russia's shadow fleet
Britain on Monday, July 21 slapped sanctions on 135 oil tankers in Russia's shadow fleet, in a bid to disrupt the flow of money helping Moscow fund the war in Ukraine. A shipping services company and an oil trading firm were also sanctioned as part of the crackdown on a fleet "responsible for illicitly carrying $24 billion worth of cargo since the start of 2024," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Security analysts say the fleet of ageing vessels is used by Russia to circumvent international sanctions that ban it from selling oil. Hundreds of vessels have now been sanctioned by the European Union and the UK since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "New sanctions will further dismantle Putin's shadow fleet and drain Russia's war chest of its critical oil revenues," Foreign Minister David Lammy said Monday. The action came just days after "the UK and EU lowered the crude oil price cap further disrupting the flow of oil money into Putin's war chest," the ministry statement added. The UK government also sanctioned the company Intershipping Services LLC, accused of "registering shadow fleet vessels under the banner of the Gabonese flag" and Litasco Middle East DMCC, linked to Russian oil company Lukoil, "for its ongoing role in moving large volumes of Russian oil on shadow fleet vessels." "As Putin continues to stall and delay on serious peace talks, we will not stand idly by," Lammy said. "We will continue to use the full might of our sanctions regime to ratchet up economic pressure at every turn." Britain earlier Monday called for a 50-day drive to arm Ukraine after US President Donald Trump gave Moscow 50 days to strike a peace deal with Kyiv. Trump also pledged to supply Kyiv with new military aid, sponsored by NATO allies, as its cities suffer ever-increasing Russian aerial attacks.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
No sign of beating on man who died in Hungary hospital, nurse says
"József Sebestyén was beaten to death by people called recruiters during forced conscription." For almost a week, that's the line Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been repeating on almost platform. This has been backed up by pro-government media outlets, with their constant stream of criticism of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's leadership, trying to gather evidence to support the "Hungarian hating" narrative. On Friday, the news spread like wildfire on government-connected portals that the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Joseph Sebestyén had been blackmailed by Ukrainian authorities. First, Index reported that forensic pathologist Joszip Akar had falsified the autopsy report because his son had been captured by recruiting officers shortly before and demanded it in exchange for his release. It is striking that the article does not name the source of the information, only stating repeatedly that it came from a "source in Berehovo." Coroner's verdict: heart attack However, a Euronews crew managed to interview a Hungarian nurse in Transcarpathia who was willing to go on the record that Sebestyen had not been beaten to death. Zoltán Razsó has spent 27 months at the front, served with Sándor Fegyir, who was appointed ambassador to Budapest, and survived the bloodshed in Bakhmut. He saw Sebestyén walking in the street when he was reportedly in a coma in Budapest and met him later in hospital. Specifically, in the mental hospital where he was transferred to after he appeared disturbed and was talking incoherently. According to Razsó, he was working in ward four when József Sebestyén died on ward two. He asked his colleagues what had happened to the man. They told him that without any serious warning signs, his heart had stopped and he had died in the bathroom. Razsó knew his colleague, the coroner, to be a reliable man, and he had found that a blood clot which started in Sebestyén's leg had lodged in the arteries around his heart, killing him. But Razsó continued to ask questions of other colleagues. At the time, several confirmed that they had met Sebestyén in two different wards and had seen no signs of a beating, even though his body had been examined several times. "Bruises and contusions are usually recorded," the veteran nurse told Euronews. This does not mean, of course, that the videos circulating on the internet are fake. But the retired soldier said that it was common practice to bundle people into buses and "teach them a lesson" if they tried to avoid conscription. They usually do not go to the military headquarters to update their data, despite a clear obligation to do so and repeated warnings. Resistance is punished At this point it is worth noting that Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In the last three and a half years, even the most conservative estimate is that 170,000 Ukrainians have died in the fighting. This means that everyone has a relative, or at least a classmate, who died on the front. The defence of the nation has become a personal matter, so it is no wonder that many people do not look kindly upon attempts by some to escape conscription. And if a soldier who narrowly survived a missile strike is serving in the Territorial Recruitment Centre (TCK), he is likely to feel that "someone else has to go now." There are many of videos on the internet of recruiters treating people roughly, but they are mostly people who have refused to enlist. In almost every country in the world, this is indeed illegal during a war. One of the most popular Hungarian-born bloggers in Transcarpathia, Sándor Lengyák, who has interviewed countless soldiers since the outbreak of the war, accepted our interview request. He has never seen anyone forcibly removed from Uzhhorod, but admitted that outside Transcarpathia, such as in Odesa, "busification" is commonplace. "However, the officers treat Roma and Hungarians in exactly the same way as Ukrainians," Lengyak said. We spoke to dozens of Hungarians from Uzhhorod to Solyvka. They all told us that even the anti-Ukrainian stance of the Budapest leadership did not provoke the Hungarian and Ukrainian people in Transcarpathia to start fighting each other. The Hungarian minority is as safe as it was at the beginning of the war, they said.
