Russia's war and 'imperialistic dreams' can't pay off, says Estonia's Kaja Kallas
The Ukraine war cannot lead to Russia becoming richer and should instead end in punishment, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has said.
"The message that we have to say loud and clear is that aggression cannot pay off," Kallas told Euronews, while attending an EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana, Albania.
"If you attack a sovereign country, then you are not leaving with more territories or more resources, but you are punished for this because we have agreed in the international rules-based order that it's illegal to attack another country."
Kallas weighed in on the recent controversial comments made by President Emmanuel Macron of France, who suggested the West should offer Russia security guarantees to end the war.
"I wouldn't offer Russia anything. I wouldn't worry about Russia right now. I would worry about Ukraine surviving. And also Russia can always go back to its borders," Kallas said.
"Of course, eventually the war has to stop, but it has to stop so that it does not pay off," she went on.
"Otherwise, it gives a signal to all the aggressors in the world or the would-be aggressors in the world that you know: 'Okay, you attack another country, and eventually you are richer because you have more territories.' It just can't pay off.
"It's not the imperialistic dreams that can be really followed here."
Since the start of the invasion on 24 February, Prime Minister Kallas has promoted a hard-line stance against the Kremlin, advocating for the harshest possible EU sanctions.
But despite the eight rafts of penalties slapped by Brussels, the war rages on with increasing brutality.
Parts of Ukraine have been plunged into darkness after Russia brutally shelled the country's power grid, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis in
Read more on euronews.com
