Russian influence in democratic countries has increased in recent years, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said during the Ukrainian Breakfast in Davos. At the same time, he emphasized that a possible peace agreement cannot be allowed to perpetuate the occupation of Ukrainian territories by the Russian Federation..
“I believe that over the past few years we have seen not only aggression against Ukraine. And here, of course, I especially thank and congratulate the Ukrainian military personnel for their efforts to protect their country. But we have also seen Russia's influence in the democratic world increase. Time passes, we have new elections. And it turns out that the trend is that political forces are coming to government positions, if not on their own, then at least in coalition with those who can supposedly be called leaders advocating peace,” Plenkovic said.
However, the Croatian Prime Minister noted, everyone really stands for peace. But the difference is that who wants peace through the lifting of sanctions from the aggressor and the actual recognition that the occupied territories will be forever under Russian control. And others want to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity, the existence of their neighbors.
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Plenkovic added that recently Russia spends 40% of its budget on Security and Defense Forces, 9% of GDP goes to defense. In addition, Moscow has the opportunity to endlessly call and mobilize Russians, either from the middle of the country, from outside, or even add North Koreans. At the same time, Plenkovic does not see any loss of power on the part of Vladimir Putin.
“And yes, Putin has already been isolated for 9-10 years. In fact, there are very few leaders in the West who are in power and have personal contacts with it. I would say there are no more than five of them. This means that there is no trust and limited influence... It seems to me that the Russians have returned mentally to the first year of the war, when they said “you are not Ukrainians, you are Little Russians, there is no Ukraine”. In the second year they said that they would proceed from the situation, and the third year was a new world order. And now I see that they are returning to the rhetoric of the first year. And I think this is very dangerous,” said the Prime Minister of Croatia.
Speaking about the new impulse of US President Donald Trump, with which his administration wants to start negotiations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, Plenkovic emphasized that in no case should one fall into the trap that Russia is setting in this context.
“I don’t really see anything that these 15 or 16 packages of sanctions would change in the internal life of the Russian Federation, in their thinking. Therefore, we strengthen Ukraine as much as we can. We will respect our principles and make sure that if there is some kind of peace agreement, it will not be a deal that would perpetuate the occupation of Ukrainian lands,” added Plenkovic.
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Let us remind you that US President Donald Trump threatens Russia with new sanctions and tariffs if dictator Vladimir Putin does not agree to an agreement to resolve the war in Ukraine. The Republican warned Moscow that “it will only get worse” and called on it to end the war “the easy way”.
At the same time, US Presidential National Security Adviser Mike Waltz emphasized that a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin could take place “in the coming days or weeks.”.
The Republican himself previously stated that preparations were underway for his meeting with the President of the Russian Federation. The Kremlin notes that Moscow welcomes the US desire to conduct dialogue, but preparations for dialogue have not yet begun.
For more details on whether Trump will be able to stop the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, read the articles by former Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oleg Shamshur, “Trump is preparing “shock and awe”. At what cost can he end the war in Ukraine " Important conclusions for Ukraine" U.A..