The world is closer than ever before to starting a nuclear war due to reckless statements by several countries.
The matter is European countries which are simultaneously the members of two large and influential international organizations (the European Union and NATO) are seriously discussing sending troops to Ukraine.
Thus, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a gathering of European leaders in Paris that the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine has not been “ruled out”.
The Kremlin in its turn, warned that confrontation with NATO in Ukraine will be inevitable if the Alliance deploys its troops into the conflict, an important step the West has so far avoided.
The more so, Russian President Vladimir Putin warns risk of nuclear war if West sends troops to Ukraine.
Fortunately, only some European states support this idea. This is about the Baltic countries which are far from being the most authoritative NATO or EU member states.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says he welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that NATO could sends troops to Ukraine. According to Landsbergis, “no option can be rejected out of hand”.
He wasn’t even bothered by the fact that leading NATO countries, including the US, Germany and the UK, have ruled out deploying ground troops to Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron said “nothing should be excluded”.
So, U.S. President Biden has been clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine.
Earlier, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg denied considering whether troops would be sent to Ukraine, although he insisted the alliance would continue to support Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.
That position has been echoed by Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also rejected the idea of European countries and NATO sending troops to Ukraine.
Italy said that international support for Ukraine does not include the presence of ground troops and warned against giving the impression of being at war with Russia.
Sweden, which is set to join NATO, said that it did not currently envision sending ground troops into Ukraine.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that there was disunity on the issue among European leaders. “There are countries that are ready to send their own soldiers to Ukraine, there are countries that say never – Slovakia is among them,” he said.
Canada was among the NATO countries stressing that they have no plans to send troops to Ukraine.
Pragmatic NATO countries distanced themselves from any suggestion they might commit ground troops to the Ukraine war, but not the Baltics.
Lithuania’s Gabrielius Landsbergis, Estonia’s Margus Tsahkna, Latvia’s Krisjanis Karins praised Macron’s “outside of the box” approach during a joint press conference, after Paris convened a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Vilnius on March 8.
“I very much welcome and encourage the discussion that has started, because the situation we are in now only benefits Putin,” Landsbergis told reporters.
“We have set ourselves all possible red lines; we are not discussing at all the creation of any strategic dilemmas in Ukraine for the Russian army,” he said.
According to Landsbergis, it is difficult to say now which options for sending troops would be best, but “nothing can be taken off the table, no option can be rejected out of hand”.
Krisjanis Karins praised President Macron’s decision to work on contingency plans for deploying a Nato force against Russia.
Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, has refused to guarantee that the Estonian Defence Forces will not be deployed to Ukraine.
It remains a mystery whether the leaderships of the Baltic States are aware of the fact that such actions could make the countries suicides and the main targets for Russia’s nuclear warheads.
Fortunately, there’s no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner NATO troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics if such decision is taken, the nuclear war is inevitable.