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Latvian Foreign Minister on the Ukraine war and his country's Soviet legacy | DW Interview
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- Published on Jun 7, 2023 veröffentlicht
- Edgars Rinkēvičs sat down with DW's Moscow Bureau chief Juri Rescheto to discuss the impact Russia's invasion of Ukraine is having on security in the Baltic states, and European cohesion. Watch the exclusive interview here.
#latvia #russia #ukraine
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Well said. A great leader. Latvia is fortunate to have him. He has the right perspective and a pulse on the now.
Finnish & Estonian leaders are great also - IMHO
As a Finn I can understand Rinkēvičs' historical notions well. He sounds like a sensible politician representing a modern Baltic state wanting to evade the risk of Russian aggression. I think his message to those "german intellectuals" was dead-on as well.
ALSO put in north american intellectuals chomsky, messerschmidt, jordan petersen etc...
@Drake Lang & the bulk of the ultraconservative political class/players here (USa) as well. Some of them are even definable as subversive (as in actual treacherous behavior even if partly unknowingly done), at this point in time, with the risks present now.
I respect this man. I am glad we are getting to know Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonian leaders and more about Finland too. Eastern Europe is rich in good people...and a great strength to the democracies because they know what it is like to not have democracy but authoritarian dictators.
I concur 💯% in what he said the security of Europe and the world will change if Ukraine loses this war. And if you don’t stop the aggressor, the aggression will continue.
I absolutely love this guy. Latvia cannot afford false, feel-good conceits.
As a Pakistani I fully support love and respect Latvia and it's beautiful people from Pakistan 🙂
Russia use to destroy Pakistani too.
Pakistan is really one of those countries i like to visit the most.
Greetings to Pakistan 🇵🇰 from Latvia 🇱🇻
Very nice speech. Have heard a lot of very good ones from Baltic poltiticians in the recent months.
Great inverview.
I wish so much of it wasn't cut out. It feels like a 1hr interview, cut down to 15min.
He's a very sharp and wise man. There's a lot to learn from somebody with so much experience.
It's really a shame to miss out on so much because of editing.
I have nothing but the outmost respect for the baltic states. Scandinavia for sure stands by you all. In the 90s Denmark fought very hard to get our friends into the EU as fast as possible and we will forever have your back. We got more than 2500 soldiers there now with 30 leopard 2A7 and majority our F16's.
As a German and as a gender neutral being, i thank great United States for blowing up our Nord Stream pipelines. Since we lost our manliness after WW2, we always had this fantasy to be spanked by uncle Sam on a daily basis.
Your support is very much appreciated. Scandinavia, the Nordics, the Baltics should stand together for the sake of our own common good - security, peace and prosperity!
What a great and wise prime minister! Latvia can be proud of such a leader!
Says who? Biden: good doggie, good doggie. Have a snack and give a voice.🤣🤣🤣🤣
@KANAŁ SENIORA what in the world are you talking about? are you into fuzzies? 🤷♂️
I like this Latvia leader. Totally support his perspective. From Denmark.
Hearing the POV of a border nation to Russia that has experienced Soviet occupation was rather informative, probably should also serve as a warning. They are like the canaries in a coal mine.
But all we have to do is look at what Putin has said - he wants to return to "soviet union".
They have been warning for years and nobody listened. They heard "you are oversensitive and rusophobic". I's called own experience.
The correct answer for the Latvians Fm is this, Latvia wants to be a singular sovereign country and the Russian speakers who believe that Latvia should be conquered by Russia are not Latvians, they're Russians who want their country Russia to be invading neighboring nations that they live in without consequences. That's a hard no from every other person who doesn't want that to happen, the Ukrainians are embodying the hard No and others have to emulate that level of national cohesion and resolve to resist imperialist ideology.
Is this true for all English speaking people aligned to the British monarchy or American corporate colonialism?
@Die Nar Personally, I can't say I've ever come across an English-speaking person living in a former colony who openly advocated having the UK reconquer their lost territories. Meanwhile Russian nationalists are a problem―the Kremlin has used them as an excuse for military intervention time and time again, first in Moldova, then Georgia, Crimea, the Donbas and now the entirety of Ukraine. And before that it took Eastern Finland, Kaliningrad and the Kuril Islands―all of which are now underdeveloped compared to the countries they were taken from. Russia is basically a tumor that only exists to grow bigger, for no purpose, without ever developing into anything functional.
@Die Nar haha, you make a real silly comparison. The situation is now and here and has to do was war and dictatorship.....is that English? It seems the situation to you is abracadabra.
Much respect to the Latvian Leader and their wonderful people who never forgot the past!
Foreign Minister, not leader.
A great prime minister. He nailed it when he equated with the idea of 'negotiations' with the petition for Ukraine's surrender. Exactly.
Foreign Minister
I really like this gentleman, every sentence is well thought out and no beating around the bush. Factual. Calm, collected.
Well mannered, diplomatic, not aqqusatory but acknowledging the underlying issues while also not throwing anyone under the bus. Very much respect for this man
Such a great interview!
An intelligent and thoughtful leader
Greetings from Latvija, proud to have such Foreign Minister.
My wife and daughter are Latvian. Love your country man! Lived in riga for two years and sigulda for one
That really is a great way to put it. "Somehow, we all lived in the 1990s for too long."
More precisely, people who are old enough to remember those times, not all of us. Younger generation including me who has been born right after collapse of USSR can't really compare it with nowadays. And in all honesty these nostalgic talks from parents and the elderly of how grass was greener in soviet union at the very least seem weird or just makes people mad to hear it over and over.
Regardless of how good or bad it was you gotta change the track from time to time and you definitely don't want to make the same music all the time, it's boring.
@squeakycleanAll older people remember the past fondly, because we were young, healthier, & looking forward to a future. As we age, we our future fades & all we have is the past. It's why every generation everywhere has some tendency to glorify the past.
Thank the Lord for Latvia and its perspective on the situation. All western leaders hesitating or siting on the fence should be watching this video.
well spoken, well said
Great minister from a great country. Smart man thinking realistically. We have those a lot in Europe. Latvia is a member of both the EU and NATO. So, they're as safe as you can be, living next to the Russian Federation.
Latvia is a strong country...👍🏻👍🏻
Don't worry, the hold on Latvia is strong.
This guy is very perceptive and eloquent! And he kinda sounds like Snape. Win-win. I wish every foreign minister is like him.
Edgars Rinkēvičs is very smart and objective. Everything he said is objectively correct and true! He answers all questions calmly and clearly. Wish more European leaders/politicians follows him.
very well said. good for you Mr Minister!!!
As a German and as a gender neutral being, i thank great United States for blowing up our Nord Stream pipelines. Since we lost our manliness after WW2, we always had this fantasy to be spanked by uncle Sam on a daily basis.
Lol...r u drunk
I think the foreign minister has a good point regarding optics, if tou look at the raw numbers, Germany has provided a lot of help to Ukraine, both humanitarian and military
But the WAY they do it always look indecisive and reluctant, when the UK and the US were donating anti-tank missiles, germany was donating helmets
When germany donated gepards, they did so late and with lots of bureocracy regarding ammo
And heres the thing, those helmets saved lives, the Gepard turned out to be surprisingly effective when russia started to deploy kamikaze drones, not to mention other deliveries like the PzH2000, which is a world class artillery piece, unmatched by anything the russians have, so the help WAS useful
Politics is often both about actions AND words, Germany is considered the one of the leaders of Europe, if not THE leader, i think other countries expected them to act like it, in a decisive manner
Reluctance to alienate Russia and future cheap Gas deals Reluctance to take responsibility as the economic powerhouse of Europe and spend their share. Other less rich countries have donated more per GDP to Ukraine than Germany.
@Hidden Dragon If you believe that it's possible to alienate the largest country in terms of area, with the biggest natural resources and the second biggest arms export quantities, you simply don't see how diverse the world is and how many different national interests and histories, which hugely impact people's views on international affairs, there are.
@nebesk So you suggest appeasement with a Despot who only respects strength. That simply doesn't work. You are failing to appreciate if Putin's Empire restoring adventure is not contained to Ukraine and more countries are attacked it dramatically increases the chance of WW3. Its exactly the same scenario as the 1939s Munich Peace in our time fallacy.
Latvia is a beautiful country but the Soviet past is very obvious when you visit. Excellent political interview, seems like a very enlightened leader.
🙏🕊🌻🔱 Very Interesting Viewpoint! Ukraine is Strong! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes! The World Stays Committed! 🔱🌻🕊🙏
He is right...we have been going around like it's the 90s for too long.
I can agree Nordic and Baltic States have great leaders.
Former occupied countries by soviets should well remember way of life back then. Its horrific ! Eastern Germany, Hungary, Czech republic, Baltic states . Never again
We will fight 💪
And they do. That is one of the main subjects why Nato stepped up
We did not necessarily live in the '90's . The main problem is that the views on Russia depended heavily on how far west you are.For a country like France, for example the relationship with Russia was completely different than for a country right near Russia's border.
Western Europe did not really care about Russia so much, at least not until recently. The Ukrainian war was like a wake-up call.
The Latvian FM is very well balanced in his analysis and comments. It shows Latvians can think for themselves and are their own country and are not Russia, they are peaceful Europeans.
" Not much", the man knows his history and has an accurate perspective of the truth of Russian collective thought.
Gotta admit, latvians have longed for someone in government who can talk adequately in english.
I particularly enjoyed his deft dismantling of leftist German intellectuals arguments re negotiations and ending arms assistance to Ukraine. Put simply, directly and with perfect precision. Like an arrow hitting the bullseye.
Spoken with no filters. I love it.
No Latvian speaks with filters! Especially not about tyrants.
I like listening to him. He is a very good leader.
I agree and this is my impression - too little, too late. Trying to play nice and Be Decent when a War Criminal evil strong arm is coming at you. Give Ukraine what they need and everything they need.
Colour me impressed by the nuanced and intelligence of this FM.
I think living in the Baltics right now is a frightening time. I am Latvian/American and with Belarus and Russia breathing down their necks, they need total assistance from Nato if they have any hopes to survive. I am in USA because of the Russian occupation in WWII. My parents were heartbroken to leave their Latvian homeland. I pray people don't lose sight of what it means if Russian take over Ukraine because I don't think they'll stop there.
In first 2 weeks when war started. I couldn't sleep. Cause i toguth that Ukraine will fall. But after 1 year war is still going on. I don't think Russia will want to test NATO waters. But then again, we can't be 100% sure that NATO countries will help us. (Baltics) And Russia probably thinks the same. Without NATO help, it would be over for us..
@Lauris Jebkas lai notiktu, mani vairāk pievelk Krievijas okupācija nevis Rietumu okupācija. Nāvi ES!
Western Europeans: we don't get it, Putin must've gone mad, nobody could have foreseen this horrible war
Eastern Europeans: we knew this was gonna happen and we warned you multiple times
I just noticed Russia comes forward with information with a bad agenda attached and it's another reason why things go rough.
Latvia won't give up as long as Ukraine isn't. Cope and seethe, vatņiks. :) Btw, the glorifying obelisk in our capital crashing down was glorious. Finally put down to rest.
2:10 he’s said that as the issues is better then anyone, we made a mistake in how we handled Russia’s government all these years.
Både Estland och Lettland verkar ha väldigt kompetenta utrikesministrar.
Germany is actually doing pretty well. Including EU commitments Germany is the second largest finical supporter of Ukraine
Yet in GDP contribution to Ukraine Germany ranks 14th. You comment is meaningless.
That´s probably true. If there is such thing as a historical guilt for Germany, then right now we have a chance to pay it off. This time Ukraine is fighting fascism.
@Adriano Celentano agree, yet, people keep pooping on Germany while France and Italy do nothing. Both France and Italy deserve scrutiny. Just ask perun.
Germany has the lowest % of GDP spend on defense of any NATO country. The current Bundeswehr has admitted it is in no state to defend its country.
I’m an ignorant, just recently learned how much hardship was imposed by Russians on Poland even before Mr H entered the WW2 stage!
Yes, tanks rolled on the baltics in the 70s. They deserve and earned a break.
Freedom for Ukraine! 🌻
The 90’s were so good, I want to get back there so much !
Yes, as long as you weren't Georgian, chechnyan, dagastanian, Caucasian, Excetera.
Same :/
I agree, depending on where one lives.
Intelligent discourse.
*Russia🇷🇺 still occupied oblast Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Crimea.*
Russia must end occupation & peace!!!
What country isn’t divided on most any issue? I’d be worried if there weren’t dissenting opinions
Hungary is really a shame for the EU!
Once Ruzzia has lost this war as it definitely will, the time will have finally come to resettle all Russians in bordering states to the loving bosom of Mother Ruzzia.
Königsberg will have to be divided between Poland and Lithuania.
It could very well be the Chinese will reclaim territories it lost to Russia in Manchuria.
Independence for the Caucasus and carving up Russia into several ethnic states is also an option.
Many new states next to a Muskovy.
Give Koingsburg to the Czechs!
@2:27 "The biggest mistake - that I would name - was dependency on Russian energy" - yet Latvia was buying most of it's natural gas from Russia even in 2022 far cheaper than Latvia could buy from alternative sources. Being independent from Russia is nice, but if you can't afford more expensive LNG from USA or Norway then that is a mistake too, maybe even bigger mistake. But from which Latvia will suffer in 5 or 10 years paying much higher gas prices.
I would vote for him.
"democratic" ruzzia would also mean the same as now , or not ? +50% of ruzzians support attacking neighbors - democracy meaning power of people - ruzzians would still be attacking and trying to conquer
anybody who can understand ruzzian language : please watch Dudajev interviews - you will understand what ruzzia is
ruzzia needs to acknowledge that WWII started in 1939 , not 1941 as it is being taught to them , Baltic states did not join CCCP voluntarily + ruzzia must pay reparations to all 3 + Ukaine
@Olen Mees: You should read more and talk less.
Quite the diplomat
Truly, not many would take so good to getting some of those questions ..from a ''good'' russian.
Baltic countries ❤️
The correspondent Juri has some strong ''good russian'' vibes.
At least DW didn't send Marina Ovsyannikova the obvious russian influence agent (allegedly).
Given Germany's pacifist attitudes, I would not be surprised if Germany declared neutrality and joined in that with Austria and Switzerland, leaving European defense against Russia to others.
Germany was not at all pacifist over yugoslavia in the 1990's
@Charles Germany has by far the lowest %of GDP spend on defense of any NATO member and last year spent just above 1%, where the Nato minimum is 2% of GDP. Basically, Germany expects others to defend it and its defense spend and hesitancy in getting involved in "hard power" reflects that.
@Michael Mazowiecki indeed peace dividend, guilt tripping, looking after newcomers etc we will have to move on mentally from the WW2 era whatever happens
Germany supplied weapons to Slovenia and Croatia to enable their secession by force of arms and recognised them the moment they declared independence, took part in the nato attack on Belgrade on the 58th anniversary their own in 1941, perhaps it correctly knew there would be no risk to themselves at all in this conflict but isn't so sure about Russia hence its hesitation
@Charles other than Russia, no-one was happy with the behavior of Milosevic Serbia which was pretty much like Putin's Russia : empire building at the cost of its neighbors. The minor ex-republics of ex-yugoslavia all requested assistance against a rapacious Serbia which largely controlled the Yugoslav army. Nato got sucked in only in Kosovo which had been invaded by Serbia.
I learned a lot about Russia Russia from my old work pal Liva. Boy, did she hate Russia. I hope you are doing ok out there Liva.
Latvia needs to pay attention to only one thing if it wants security and peace with Russia.
Latvia needs to guarantee full language rights to all Russian speakers in Latvia, just as Kazakhstan has done, but the opposite to what russophobic/nationalistic Ukraine did.
With full language rights in place, Latvia has nothing to worry about.
What you call rusohobic, Baltic states and Poland call "being badly experienced by Russia". Who does Russia thnk t is and why should we always care what Russia wants? Language rights? Putin simply needs excuses to invade and annex.
Do you really believe what you just wrote? No, I'm honestly curious no offense. I don't think Kremlin invaded Ukraine just because of that. Also, Kazakhstan cannot be invaded. Its proximity to China, mostly Russian-aligned stance on many things, and neutrality over other things render it unattractive for the Kremlin.
Good luck with that. The russophobia you speak about just dident happend a year ago out of nowhere. What nations formally occupied by enemys have ever granted the right to speak the language of their occupiers , even in small numbers ? In Latvia = Latvians rules. Not very complicated.
Europe - if we do not help UKRAINE today then WE WILL NEED HELP TOMORROW ourselves ‼
@ellie kwong we shall see......
As a German and as a gender neutral being, i thank great United States for blowing up our Nord Stream pipelines. Since we lost our manliness after WW2, we always had this fantasy to be spanked by uncle Sam on a daily basis.
As a manliest stream pipe, I can confirm this is real.
You posted this several times down this clip which qualifies you 100% as a Russian bot. Zdorovo Ivan, po HiMARS yzhe skuchaesh?
Do you have any evidence for you claim?
I'm not sure how much longer Russia can put up with this nonsense.
The USSR agreed to Germany's reunification.
The USSR withdraws its army from Europe.
The USSR project was completed. Everyone was given complete freedom.
NATO is still in existence. It grew larger. The US nuclear weapons are still in Turkey and Europe. Russia, like the USSR, requested membership in NATO but was denied.
Because of traumatized events, Poland and the Baltic states (roughly 50 million people out of 750 million) strongly desire a war with Russia.
russia has nothing of worth saying.
Baltics does not want war with anyone..
Nice try vatnik
Protect the Baltic states.
Latvia is very happy under US/British empire. They don’t want to be under Russian empire. One bad thing is they have to pay 20 times more than they should. Well that is for democracy and choice.
They have warned us for a decade. We did not listen.
I hope we can change our attitude towards the Baltic nations and Finland. In my personal opinion they belong much more to the EU than the UK or Hungary.
I hope this gloomy situation changes for good... Glory to Russia
Soviet Russia had concentration camps during WW2 - there is no glory
" UN experts slam Latvia for clamping down on Russian-language minorities
Latvia recently adopted a law aimed at phasing out education in minority languages by September 2025."
Nice people asking for a civil war.
Latvia 100 year War. Everybody loves a good War.
its a shame the entire baltics is like 6M people. not exactly a equal counterweight to russia/belarus
It's a Shame that western Europeans have totally forgotten world war 2 new generation they stopped teaching them history .
If we want future then we must let past be past.
You should e-mail Putin. Ask him to do just that.
I'm Latvian, i speak freely russian since I was 6 ! in reality we Latvians should go to russia to work there instead of going to any other EU country, but the sad reality is that regime that took control of russia, made russia so poor that my knowledge of russian language is useless... I cannot imagine if russia would be democratic from 2000, how rich it could be ! in fact it doesn't matter if it's democratic or not, it depends on people who rules the country ! I really wish that russia could have some leaders who cares business instead of war... I hope that one day russia will have leaders who will make russia rich for once ! And their mentality of war will dismiss for ever... 🤞
@KL : It's certainly better than 10 years ago. BTW, Moscow is ranked the best place to live. Rubles are stronger than a year ago. Their inflation is going down. They are not out of food. Oh, soon, they don't need running water for toilet. China is piloting waterless toilets.
The 80s and 90s where magical in the U.S.
12:28 Spot on! No bright future ahead ...
thank you!
so much better than German talking heads who only talk about oil prices, Russian feelings, peace and inflation....
Honestly and we wonder why Imperium Russia thought occupation of its neighbors was wise build a buffer between you and Germany it's not rocket science
Back in 1500 Poland was a very large commonwealth was controlled most of Ukraine and the Baltic countries unfortunately both Russia and Sweden was uncomfortable with that fact
truth
same in all from midle to east europe
''Speed saves lives'' - Zelensky
The west should have listened. They/We were too selfcentred and too proud. Now Ukraine fights our war.
More like "to cheap."
NATO commanders need to be on the ground guiding the Ukrainian troops, it's that simple.
Some EU countries worry about world war 3 because they experienced other world wars.
Winston Churchill-'You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.' - To Neville Chamberlain
As a German and as a gender neutral being, i thank great United States for blowing up our Nord Stream pipelines. Since we lost our manliness after WW2, we always had this fantasy to be spanked by uncle Sam on a daily basis.
Dam right.
Overly optimistic, no doubt
The world lived off of america for too long. I know this because i follow where my tax dollars go
Russian bot!
11:58 ^^Timely interruption^^
Basically bring back Germany
American Imperium is not going to send hundreds of thousands of soldiers
smart
In Germany „The Left“ party is characterized, among other things, by an internal left-wing pluralism in which orthodox communist, reform communist, left-wing socialist, Stalinist, Trotskyist and violence-oriented autonomist approaches coexist happily. In addition, there are democratic leftist currents, especially in the East German party branches.
Members of the Bundestag from „The Left“ traveled to the Donbass in 2015 to hand over €130,000 in donations to the "separatists" deployed by Russia.
Russia under Putin is a regained ally in the fight against the hated West. And the latter is forgiven for one thing or another - after all, people have been used to double standards of intellectual honesty for generations, ever since Lenin.
Wish he was our president instead of dithering Biden.
Twenty years of being cheap and now every European politician is trying to rewrite history to make it seem noble.