Paasikivi on strong criticism • After American long-distance messages – then Europe can follow suit
The US has given the green light to anti-personnel mines that will stop Russian troops in the war. They have also approved US Atacams robots that can strike targets deep inside Russia.
The long-range robots have a range of 300 kilometers and the US announcement is described as a response to Russia deploying North Korean troops in the battles against Ukraine.
Should Europe follow suit?
Now the question is whether countries in Europe will also give the green light for Ukraine to use long-range weapons – something that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been appealing for since the war started.
It concerns, among other things, Britain’s long-range weapon of the Storm shadow type. During Wednesday, British media reported that Ukraine has fired the British robot at targets inside Russia. With that, the UK government appears to have approved the weapon system’s use against Russian territory. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office does not want to comment on the report
– It is likely now that if the Americans have approved interventions on Russian territory with their weapons and they are the ones who have previously prevented interventions with other weapons as well such as Storm shadow, Scalp EG. I would consider it too likely that we will also see those weapons used in Russia, says military expert Joakim Paasikivi.
Why hasn’t there been a decision already?
– What the Americans have said is that they are worried about an escalation, after all, it is nuclear weapons. These nuclear threats have come with every new weapon system from the Russian side. It cannot be ignored that Russia has nuclear weapons, but the probability of their use is low.
The German warning: Escalation
The liberals in Germany want the country to support Ukraine with the Taurus weapon system. The proposal to support Ukraine with the long-range robots has the support of the Christian Democrats and the Green Party, but gets the thumbs down from the German Social Democrats.
TV4’s foreign reporter Jona Källgren believes that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is a very stubborn politician.
– Scholz has always said that it will lead to an escalation against Russia and that it would probably mean that German soldiers would have to be inside Ukraine to help them use this system. But he is practically the only leading politician left in Germany who really sticks to this refusal to send the long-range robots, he says.
However, Joakim Paasikivi is clear that it is Russia that threatens and not the other way around. He also explains the theory behind why Western countries are not pumping in long-range robots and giving their approval to use them on Russian soil.
– There is a theory called “cooking the frog”, which means that you should slowly ensure that the Ukrainians get the conditions to defend themselves better and that Russia should then get used to it and not be surprised and resort to panic measures. It is a measure that has prolonged the war and caused more people to die. So there is strong criticism that the support has come too little, too late and too slowly, he says.