From 5 to 7 February, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna and his Latvian and Lithuanian colleagues are on a visit to Washington DC, and meeting with representatives and senators, he underlined the need for both Europe and the United States to demonstrate strength in assisting Ukraine and pressuring Russia because it would also deter other hostile powers.
“Those who are closely following the outcome of Russia’s aggression include Iran, North Korea, and China. To ensure long-term global security, Europe and the United States of America must convincingly prove that they can counter hostile powers successfully. The best way to do this is to ensure Ukraine’s success in the brutal war of aggression launched by Russia,” Tsahkna said.
The discussion at the Heritage think tank concentrated on pressuring Russia through additional sanctions. “Although Russian propaganda is trying to convince us of the opposite, Russia’s economy is doing very badly right now. The sanctions imposed so far are working, which proves that the West has been on the right track when it comes to putting economic pressure on Russia. Now is not the time to stop, it is the time to ramp up the pressure,” Tsahkna said. He added that the most important action was to reduce Russia’s revenues from the export of energy carriers and deterring Russia’s shadow fleet, which allows it to circumvent sanctions and also poses a risk for the environment, and, as proven by several recent infrastructure incidents, constitutes a security threat.
The meetings also covered using Russia’s frozen assets, and the central role of the defence cooperation between Estonia and the USA in reinforcing the deterrence posture of Estonia and the Baltic region.
On the first day of his Washington visit, Minister Tsahkna met with Brian Mast, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Keith Self, Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Steve Daines, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation; Gregory Meeks, Ranking Democratic Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Gabe Amo, Vice Ranking Democratic Member of House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Bill Keating, Member of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment.
This week, Jonatan Vseviov, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was also on a visit to Washington DC. During his visit from 3 to 5 February Vseviov’s agenda included meetings with Robert Wilkie, head of the transition team at the Department of Defence, and Lisa Kenna, Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
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