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189
Ukraine War: Russia Must Shrink its Army for Any Peace to Hold, Says Top EU Diplomat (www.kyivpost.com)
submitted 22 hours ago by Sepia@mander.xyz to c/europe@feddit.org
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Any peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine will only last if Moscow makes real concessions, including limiting the size of its armed forces and curbing its growing military budget, the EU’s top diplomat has said.

In an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera published on Friday, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, warned that without meaningful concessions from Moscow, Europe risks facing new conflicts elsewhere.

...

The problem for peace is Russia,” Kallas said, adding: “Even if Ukraine received security guarantees, without concessions from the Russian side, we would have other wars, perhaps not in Ukraine but elsewhere.”

...

Kallas said that Kyiv and its allies “certainly welcome the momentum toward peace that the U.S. administration is showing,” but cautioned that Russia lacks a “genuine will for peace.”

“It [Russia] is constantly bombing Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure,” she told Corriere della Sera, stressing that “first we need to see a ceasefire.”

She said that in order to achieve sustainable peace, it is necessary to ensure that “Russia does not attack again”, adding that this requires clear concessions from Moscow.

...

"We need concessions from Russia, whether that means limiting its army or restraining its military budget,” said Kallas, who served as Estonia’s prime minister from 2016 to 2021.

Moscow has significantly increased its military budget in recent years, diverting vast resources toward the defense industry to sustain its war in Ukraine.

...

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[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 33 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (2 children)

I love Kallas but nah.
Russia is an empire and behaves like an empire, the Russian federation needs to be split up into all its member states.
Of course this automatically gives back all territories to Ukraine including Crimea, but it also ensures for instance Georgian independence along with many states oppressed and manipulated through Russian propaganda.

Let's see how much Russia is willing to spend on military, when they have to pay for it themselves...

PS:
Russia actually has a lot of cool legislation and principles in their society that give rights and protect citizens, but it's all ruined by Putin, corruption and the FSB. Not unlike how Trump is ruining USA ATM.
If both could get rid of the corruption and have real democracy, they could both be very good societies, equaling the best in the world like Scandinavia, Japan, Switzerland etc.
Imagine how wonderful that would be! Instead the people are allowing them to be racing towards a dystopia. 😒

[–] plyth@feddit.org 10 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

the Russian federation needs to be split up

China has said that they cannot afford Russia to lose. It must mean that they don't want to have potentially Western oriented republics on their land border.

This demand makes sure that China will fully back Russia.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 8 points 18 hours ago

It must mean that they don't want to have potentially Western oriented republics on their land border.

I think a more material iterpretation is they can't afford the loss of resource supply Russia provides them in the face of military threat from the US. Western oriented republics is an unlikely scenario to follow a power vaccuum left by a Russian power withrawal. Instead it's more likely that local oligarchies take power. Conflicts could break out too. All that is a more challenging environment for keeping the resources flowing into China, especially during an armed confrontation that's cut off supplies by sea.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Soviet union split up, the Russian Federation can too. It won't make much difference on the Chinese borders. Mongolia and Kazakhstan is by far the greatest border, and none of them are in the Russian Federation.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

But Mongolia is landlocked and the Russian part is much closer to the important cities. My assumption is that it would make defending China much more difficult,

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Defend from what exactly?

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 11 hours ago

A systemic rival.

[–] pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 19 hours ago

kallas and the estonian reform party is unpopular in general for raising taxes when they promised not to do so, I'd recommend listening to the song "maksusaun" (tax sauna). but one of the things reform has done right is it's anti russia policy.

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 27 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

They're on it I hear

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 3 points 18 hours ago

Savage.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 25 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Well the good folks in Ukraine have been doing their level best to shrink the Russian military.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 7 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

If we gave them more than a knife from the get go, they may have done significantly better. But then the war would have stopped quickly and a lot less shells would have been made and sold overall.

[–] Pringles@sopuli.xyz 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

That's hardly fair. The west has given a ton of weapons and aid. What would be fair is to state that those were given piecemeal and we probably should have given more and earlier. Not to mention that Europe needs to step up and do more now and in the coming years, because this war isn't ending anytime soon.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

That's what I meant - slower delivery over longer period. It's why I said we didn't give more from the get go. Which is likely resulting in more total weapons expended, along with the people firing them.

Oh and this is not just a European phenomenon which is why I'm not singling out the EU.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Why is Kallas the only EU politician who has aggressive worda against Russia?

[–] ManixT@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

How are her words aggressive? It's common sense. No one is planning on attacking Russia, but they've been building their imperial army like it's their whole purpose in life.

Would be nice if they did something to better the world instead.

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 0 points 11 hours ago

He's not the only one.

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 2 points 18 hours ago

They’ve spent years brutalising their own population and turning them into orcs who will commit atrocities with glee. If they demobilised them, there’d be thousands of ex-soldiers primed to kill but suddenly denied targets and told to reintegrate into civilian society.

Basically Russia’s army is a weapon which can be pointed outwards or inwards. If they’re not conquering Ukraine (and after that Poland and Finland and Berlin and down the Champs-Elysees), they’re raping and murdering random people in Russia. Which is incentive for Putin or any successor to keep it pointed outwards until some superior force physically stops them.

[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Urkraine needs to start asking for land. Perhaps that little strip of land north of Crimea

[–] baggins@beehaw.org 1 points 8 minutes ago

Down to about a thousand.

[–] ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com -4 points 19 hours ago

The same Kaja Kallas who didn't seem to know that Russia and China fought in WW2?