Must stop Russia in its tracks, says Latvia
Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, January 8
Among the Europeans who have made a beeline for India is Russia’s close neighbour Latvia. Its State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andris Pelšs was here to explore the opportunities from the shifting of supply chains away from China, and, the more important existential issue of the Ukraine war which has made Moscow’s other land-border sharing countries trepidatious.
Blatant aggression
It (Ukraine war) is a global security issue with global repercussions and sets a precedent for other international actors. It is a blatant war of aggression and will have an impact on other actors if it goes unpunished. Andris Pelšs, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Latvia
In an interview with The Tribune, Pelšs said Riga, contrary to South Block’s perception, doesn’t see the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as a European war but Russia’s challenge to a rules-based system.
“Russia must be stopped. The problem is much wider than a regional one. It is a global security issue with global repercussions and sets a precedent for other international actors. It is a very blatant war of aggression without provocation and will have a profound impact on other actors if it goes unpunished,” he says.
Conceding that India’s complaint about a non-functional UN has basis, Pelšs said Latvia agreed that the international environment had changed since the 1940s when the UN was constituted.
“India has been arguing for a systematic review especially of the UN Security Council. We are on the same position. Text-based negotiations will show that way and not by brute force. We still hope that as humanity we can find better way to adapt the international system of managing peace than just going to systemic wars,” he observed, adding Latvia feels that Russia’s actions is potentially a case for International War Crimes Tribunal.
After meeting senior MEA officials, he felt that though the approaches were different, in general both Latvia and India are like-minded countries. “We would be appreciative if we could have the same international reaction,” he felt.
Russia, he said, has had to fall back on tactics of terrorising the civilian population and would not stop until it was stopped because the Kremlin wanted to reconstitute the old imperialistic Russia/USSR.
Putin was not deterred in 2008 (Georgia) and Ukraine (2014) and “there is no reason to believe that it will stop unless it is stopped”. Riga’s perception is that Russia was not preparing for a long fight and one indication that it is not doing well is its resort to “terror tactics”.
If weaning India away from Russia was one objective of Pelšs’ India visit, the other was exploring economic opportunities. “Latvia is a popular destination for students. Indians are the largest group of students mostly focused on ICT. We are also working with universities to make offers more understandable and attractive for quality students from India,” he observed.
