In his meeting with Stefanchuk, Reinsalu discussed raising the cost of the war for Russia, including imposing additional sanctions and lowering the oil price cap. “Meeting my European Union colleagues in Brussels yesterday, I called for quick progress with additional sanctions, including lowering the oil price cap in order to turn off the taps Russia is using to finance its aggression in Ukraine,” Reinsalu said. He said unfortunately sanctions evasion was a growing problem, and the EU was making joint efforts to prevent this.
They also spoke about Ukraine’s path to the EU and NATO. “Estonia fully supports Ukraine’s EU and NATO accession and is prepared to share its experiences to expedite the process,” Reinsalu said, adding that hopefully NATO foreign ministers would discuss Ukraine’s accession perspective at their meeting on 4 and 5 April in Brussels.
Talks with Nayyem centred on what is the most efficient assistance Estonia and other partners could offer Ukraine in dealing with the destruction caused by Russia’s missile barrages. “With its inhuman attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, Russia has caused immeasurable destruction and Russia must pay for the damage,” Reinsalu said. He briefed Nayyem on Estonia’s work on finding ways to use frozen Russian assets in Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts.
“I welcome the working group set up in the EU to find ways of using frozen Russian assets but we need practical solutions and specific steps,” Reinsalu said. He added that reconstruction in Ukraine could not wait until Russia loses the war – work must begin immediately. “People’s homes and critical infrastructure has been destroyed and Ukrainians need them now. It also gives hope to Ukraine and Ukrainians, which is very important now.”
Additional info about Estonia’s aid to Ukraine is available here: https://vm.ee/en/estonias-aid-ukraine
Some photos are available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/estonian-foreign-ministry/albums/72177720306871978
Additional information:
Communication Department
[email protected]
