There is a level of “naivety” in Ireland about the threat Russia poses to Europe, while Vladimir Putin has shown “no sign” that he wants to end his war in Ukraine, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
European Union member states near Russia, such as the Baltic countries, feel that threat as an “existential” one, the Fianna Fáil leader said.
Mr Martin was speaking in Copenhagen on his way to a meeting of European heads of state and government, a day after a summit of the EU’s 27 leaders met to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine and how to defend themselves against Kremlin-backed sabotage and interference.
Russia, rather than Europe, must bear the cost of the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, Mr Martin said.
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A plan to effectively confiscate Russian assets frozen in the EU under sanctions, in order to fund a huge loan to Ukraine, is “very new territory”, Mr Martin said. “There has to be a deterrence against the waging of war, of illegal wars,” he said.
“I witnessed over the years the European Union funding the reconstruction of so many areas that have been ravaged by war, and that’s not sustainable into the future,” he said.
The €140 billion loan to Ukraine financed by the frozen Russian assets would only be subject to repayment if Russia agrees to pay reparations to Kyiv to cover the cost of rebuilding Ukraine after the war.
[ Drones, frozen billions and a Hungarian villain: Copenhagen’s Scandi-noir summitOpens in new window ]
Luxembourg and Belgium, plus the European Central Bank, have expressed concerns about such a plan running afoul of international law.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Martin said Russia ultimately must pay for its decision to invade Ukraine, which started Europe’s biggest war in 80 years.
“There has to be a financial cost to the waging of war, there has to be reparations … No one wants to be in these positions, but the waging of war against a country like Ukraine has huge implications all around. It’s not business as usual,” he said.
Mr Putin is behind a “reckless” pattern of incursions and interference in EU states, Mr Martin said.
A number of Russian drones crossed into Poland in recent weeks, while many suspect Russia’s hand in instances of rogue drones that shut down several airports in Denmark last week.
There was a “very serious sense” of the Russian threat when EU leaders sat down together on Wednesday, Mr Martin said. “It seems to me that there’s a degree of naivety back in Ireland in respect of that,” he said.
This can be seen when one considers “everything that’s happened over the last number of weeks and months, in terms of drone incursions, in terms of maritime activity among cables”.
“Certainly the member states on the eastern European side, the Baltic States in particular, feel this threat and feel it’s existential,” he said.
