Prime Minister Janez Janša was guest on CNN’s At This Hour live, where he discussed with host Kate Bolduan the situation in Ukraine, the visit of three Prime Ministers to Ukraine, the NATO Summit in Brussels and current foreign policy issues.
nitially, they focused on the extraordinary meeting of NATO members, which will take place tomorrow in Brussels. “This is one of the most important meetings of the last decade,” the Prime Minister said, adding that it is clear what Ukraine needed at the moment. “Ukraine needs hope, modern weapons, money and humanitarian aid. NATO should satisfy the first two requirements. Hope and modern weapons are important, but we also need to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. This is what we need to do to show the Russians and President Putin that NATO does not just stand on the side lines”, he said.
Asked about the fact that Russian President Putin has so far not been stopped by sanctions, the Prime Minister said that history shows that sanctions are very important because they make the aggressor weaker. “But I can’t think of any situation in history in which sanctions immediately stopped a war. At the moment, the only thing that can stop the Russian tanks are weapons and the Ukrainians who are fighting them. Sanctions will make the Russians weak, but we must do everything we can to help the Ukrainians to become stronger and everything we can to make the Russians weaker – we must pool our efforts,” said Prime Minister Janez Janša. “When speaking about sanctions, they must first of all have an impact on the Russian war machinery. Russian technology uses components produced in the West, and I believe that is what we need to focus on at the moment,” the Prime Minister said.
The host pointed out that the Polish Prime Minister had said in one of his public speeches that NATO would ask for a peacekeeping mission, and the Kremlin pointed out that any contact between the Russian and NATO armies could lead to consequences that would be difficult to repair, and asked the Prime Minister whether he himself was in favour of a peacekeeping mission. “There are peacekeeping missions and peace-building missions”, the Prime Minister said, adding that for a peacekeeping mission, peace would have to be established first, which would be any ceasefire. “But that is not the situation at the moment,” the Prime Minister said. “However, what we saw on our visit to Kyiv was the strong determination on the Ukrainian side to fight and to win, and we have to do everything we can to help them to be strong enough, we have to help them with weapons. Only when the Ukrainians succeed in fighting back will we be faced with a situation where we can talk about a serious peacekeeping mission to keep the peace. For a peacekeeping mission, we need peace to be kept, but as I said, we are not there yet”, the Prime Minister said. He also added that the only organisation capable of carrying out a genuine peacekeeping mission is NATO. “And at this point I agree with the Polish proposal,” the Prime Minister said.
Asked about the Russian threat of using nuclear weapons, the Prime Minister said that Russia would not use nuclear weapons “because that would mean going on a path of no return”. “It is something like having suicidal intentions, and I think that the people who are needed to carry out such a command are not prepared to die. I also think that Russia can easily threaten the population, Europe, with this, but I still don’t think that this is a likely situation. We have to see the situation as it is, not as the Russians want to portray it,” the Slovenian Prime Minister said.
Asked why it was so important that three European leaders went to Kyiv last week when they could have made a phone call, the Prime Minister said that it is very easy to simply call, because there is no risk involved. “But 30 years ago Slovenia was in the same situation, under attack by the communist Yugoslav army, and nobody came to support us. We know how Zelenski, Shmyhal and colleagues in the Ukrainian government feel. We went there to give them hope, to give them the message that they are not forgotten, that we believe in them. We also delivered to them the OECD’s draft plan to help Ukraine rebuild after the war. The message that we have not written them off and that we believe in them is very important,” the Prime Minister explained.
Asked whether US President Joe Biden should also go to Kyiv, the Prime Minister said “we are in a different position”. “A US President to go to a war zone is a much more important matter than three Prime Ministers from Europe. We are aware of the importance of the US and the decisions you take. Now that the West is united in condemning aggression and supporting Ukraine, we know that we are strong enough to stop this war and aggression and to ensure peace,” the Slovenian Prime Minister said. He concluded by expressing his thanks for the strong involvement of the US and thanking the government, the President, and the media that help Ukrainians and Europeans by reporting on this situation. “Frankly speaking, in Europe we have neglected the security situation for the last few decades and now we need the US more than ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall”, concluded Prime Minister Janez Janša.
By: UKOM
