00:00Indeed, all the attention is on achieving peace in Ukraine.
00:05And from our perspective, from the Latvian perspective, I want to be very clear,
00:08we will not recognize occupied territories as Russian.
00:12Whatever the ceasefire achieves, whatever is there,
00:15there will be no recognition of occupation as legal.
00:18So we will stick to our international positions that we have maintained,
00:22and that is something that we have been very clear about.
00:25And we very much commend the U.S. efforts, really gigantic, substantial talks,
00:33very detailed talks from what we know.
00:35And our support for Ukraine, for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty,
00:40democracy for the future is absolute and total.
00:44So we will continue supporting Ukraine both on the battlefield as long as it lasts,
00:49but also at the peace talks, whatever is necessary.
00:53And one thing that has not changed, we don't see any change in Russia's position.
00:59All the signals from Russia currently still, they are not serious about peace.
01:03They are just looking at picking and dividing NATO, picking, dividing the EU.
01:08So with that, we wish luck to Ukraine, to the U.S., and we wish for peace in Ukraine.
01:15And Ukraine does give up on NATO.
01:16It's for Ukraine to decide.
01:20I mean, NATO's treaty is very clear.
01:24Article 10 provides for the possibility to enlarge NATO with regard to European countries.
01:31So if you are a European country, you want to join NATO,
01:34you have to contribute to Euro-Atlantic security, and there has to be a consensus.
01:37So three very simple, straightforward points that the Article 10 provides.
01:42And every European country can join NATO.
01:46That is the ultimate.
01:48If Austria or Switzerland suddenly decides to change their views,
01:52they will have to comply also with the same conditions with regard to contributing to Euro-Atlantic security.
01:57There will have to be a consensus and so on and so forth, interoperability.
02:00So at the outset, NATO's treaty remains valid.
02:06But it will be for Ukraine to decide whether they continue applying or not,
02:10or whether they will delay it.
02:11And it will be for NATO's allies to decide when is the opportune moment to accept new members.
02:16The question is if they decide not to.
02:18I cannot answer with if.
02:20The questions with if don't work.
02:22I think the issue within the coalition of willing depends on the modalities, again,
02:34what exactly is happening on the ground.
Comments