Kaja Kallas. AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to defend Russian territory “with any means at our disposal,” including nuclear weapons.
Such threats must be taken seriously “but not in a sense that, ‘Oh, let’s give in,’” Kallas said, adding that attempts to appease Putin when he escalates may send the signal that “when you threaten, they will give in.”
“The nuclear powers of the world have given a very clear signal to Russia: ‘When you use (the nuclear weapons), there is no way back.’”
The prime minister expressed hope that Russia’s embarrassing battlefield setbacks in Ukraine, domestic resistance to Moscow’s military mobilization and mounting criticism from Putin’s allies mean “we are seeing the beginning of the end of this war.”
She said she expected a difficult winter in Europe, which is suffering the side effects of the war in Ukraine in the form of rising energy costs and sky-rocketing inflation.
“It’s going to be very, very hard. But we have to prepare our public and be very clear (as to) why it is so. It is because Putin is waging a war on a European country,” Kallas said. “That’s why we are all suffering. So to end the sufferings, our sufferings which are much milder than the sufferings of Ukrainians, we have to put our efforts to end the war.”