Putin dreams of restoring the Russian Empire with Ukraine as part of it - Rinkevics

RIGA - Russian dictator Vladimir Putin dreams of restoring the Russian Empire and this is impossible without Ukraine as part of it, President Edgars Rinkevics said on Thursday at the security and foreign policy forum Riga Conference.

In his view, Putin's statement that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest tragedy of the 20th century and that the Bolsheviks made a mistake in destroying the Russian Empire is not a bluff. The President pointed out that not only the Baltic States and Poland, but also Finland and other countries should be concerned about Putin's dream of restoring the Russian Empire.

Rinkevics pointed out that Putin does not intend to attack any NATO member state militarily at the moment, but if he sees that the alliance is weak, Putin will test its capabilities. On the other hand, if Putin sees that NATO is strong, resilient and spending more and more on defense, there will be no attack.

The first point of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's "victory plan" is to invite Ukraine to join NATO. Commenting on this point, the President stressed that it is not the invitation that is more important, but Ukraine's actual membership of the Alliance.

He referred to the 2008 Bucharest Summit Declaration, which declared that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become NATO members, but this is already a 16-year-old promise. According to Rinkevics, it is not enough to receive an invitation, there must be a plan for Ukraine to become a full member of the Alliance, as it may take another 16 years from the invitation to join NATO to actual membership.

"I understand why diplomatic language is being used in relation to the invitation to Ukraine to join NATO, I also understand why it is being talked about now, but I do not see at the moment that there is full understanding and agreement among the 32 member states that this should be done today," the President said.

Rinkevics also noted that a huge mistake was made last year, which must be acknowledged. There was a great deal of confidence that the Ukrainian counter-attack would produce tangible results, but Ukraine was not provided with what it needed, Rinkevics said. The fact that the counter-attack did not go according to plan should not be blamed on the Ukrainians. In his view, it is the fault of the countries supporting Ukraine and this should be corrected.

Asked what would happen if the next US President decided to cut off support to Ukraine, the President said that he understood all the internal political discussions and debates that were going on in the US at the moment, but he did not want to comment on the electoral process in the US.

"I have some confidence that US aid will not be cut off. But I would like to put a different spin on this. [...] Europe needs to do more, regardless of this or that decision the US takes. We know our problems. Europe's defense industry needs to step up, not because of Ukraine, but because of our own needs," Rinkevics said.

Speaking about the Russian drone which flew into the territory of Latvia, the President of Latvia stressed that the drone incident has been one of the hot topics in Latvian politics for about a month, so he should be cautious when commenting on it.

He admitted that there were grounds to suspect that the drone had veered off course and crashed in Latvia. According to Rinkevics, this has led to the identification of shortcomings, such as the need to improve radar coverage. The President stressed that expensive air defense systems were unlikely to be used to destroy drones that cost considerably less, so national solutions should be sought.

Rinkevics said that the Ministry of Defense and the National Armed Forces had understood the work to be done. Latvia's existing capabilities have also been strengthened, but there is an understanding that more is needed. Another issue, he said, is NATO's overall approach. There have been drone incidents in Poland, Romania and Latvia, but there is still a lack of an overall NATO approach.

"We need to implement what has been decided at NATO summits in Madrid, Vilnius and reaffirmed in Washington. We need to move to rotational air defence. Unfortunately, we see that we have not achieved this goal and we are dependent on our friends and allies, but we need fighters and updated procedures. This is a joint effort," the President said.

Riga Conference is taking place in Riga through Saturday, October 19. Riga Conference is an annual meeting of regional and international experts in foreign policy and defense, academics, journalists, and business representatives, promoting the discussion and assessment of issues affecting the transatlantic community. Convening in the Latvian capital since 2006, the conference has become a recognized annual tradition in the region.