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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 09:39

Rinkevics: there will be no winner in Ukraine crisis

BC, Riga, 14.04.2014.Print version
In an interview to the Spanish newspaper ''El Mundo'', Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics (Reform Party) said that there will be no winner in the Ukraine crisis, and that only European Union and NATO membership is able to offer member states necessary stability, cites LETA.

Asked whether Ukraine has two souls, Rinkevics pointed out that it is a country with hug potential, which should be allowed to make its own decision without any foreign intervention. He added that 53 percent of Ukrainians support EU membership.

 

Answering a question whether he believes Europe is not too insistent on the desire to begin EU membership talks with Ukraine, Rinkevics points out that Russian began putting pressure on Ukraine after the decision was made to begin membership talks, which was followed by the decision made by then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to suspend these talks. ''Ukrainians understood that they lost their final chance, and the current situation has reached a point where there will be no winners,'' Rinkevics said.

 

The Latvian foreign minister denied the assertion that Ukraine's economy is too closely connected with Russia, meaning that it will not be able to achieve necessary reforms as quickly as Latvia did in the early 1990s. He emphasized that, back then, Latvia's industry was closely linked to the Soviet Union, but that in time Latvia was able necessary economic reforms and create new trade routes.

 

''During the Soviet era, we had a substantial military industry here, which is gone. We learned from our past, and understood that only EU and NATO membership could give us the necessary stability,'' Rinkevics said.

 

Asked whether Russia could use ''defending the interests of Russians'' as an excuse to attack Latvia, Rinkevics pointed out that minorities in Latvia have much larger political freed than they do in Russia, however, Russia's attempts to use the minority issue in its favor is being seen at the moment.

 

''In the ten year we have been EU members, the Russian minority has felt the benefits of membership,'' Rinkevics said, mentioning the freedom of travel as an example.






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