Europe still imports goods from Russia worth more than it provides to Ukraine, and this situation must change.
This was stated by Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard before the start of the meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Stenergard noted that despite statements about the importance of strengthening support for Ukraine and increasing pressure on Russia, “the truth is that support for Ukraine is insufficient, and support for Russia is far too great.”
She illustrated this with figures and a poster she brought: since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, European countries and Europe as a whole have provided Ukraine with support amounting to 187 billion euros. At the same time, the EU has imported Russian oil and gas worth 201 billion euros. And if other import categories are added, the total reaches 311 billion euros, which means that the EU effectively ends up with a “negative balance of support for Ukraine of 124 billion euros.”
“This is nothing but a disgrace,” the Swedish foreign minister stressed.
She noted that despite all the talk about peace negotiations, there will be no real peace negotiations if partners do not increase support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia.
A positive step in this direction would be to use frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine.
According to Stenergard, Sweden insists that there can be no peace without Ukraine’s participation in the discussions, and that Europe must be at the negotiating table.
“We must focus on changing the situation so that Russia itself wants to come to the negotiating table, because it is absolutely clear that right now it is not ready for serious negotiations,” Stenergard said.
