Visiting Paris the day after the dissolution of the National Assembly, Anders Fogh Rasmussen is not disoriented, in the midst of political chaos. Prime Minister of Denmark for seven years (2001-2009), the trained economist experienced his share of stormy coalitions, including with the hard right, before becoming Secretary General of NATO for five years (2009-2014) .
Now Rasmussen devotes his energy and network to helping Ukraine, working closely with Volodymyr Zelensky’s office in kyiv. With the help of the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, he brought together several Western political figures, such as Boris Johnson and Hillary Clinton, in order to deliver to the West a road map of support for Ukraine. “In January, Zelensky asked us to bring together this international group so that kyiv integrates into the Euro-Atlantic security architecture and to strengthen Ukraine’s defense,” says Rasmussen. “They are former presidents, from former Prime Ministers, former Foreign Ministers… We all have the advantage of total freedom of speech.”
Before the Conference for Peace in Ukraine, which opens this Saturday, June 15 in Switzerland, and a month before a decisive NATO summit in Washington, the former boss of the Western alliance details his plan to support Ukraine. With sometimes radical proposals.
Lifting gun restrictions
Anders Fogh Rasmussen: “The West must lift all its reservations, all its restrictions on arms deliveries and on the use of its weapons by Ukraine. The Ukrainians must obtain permission to use these weapons to eliminate targets on the Russian territory They must also receive everything they need in the face of this aggression: long-range missiles, tanks, fighter planes. In this regard, I welcome President Macron’s decision to transfer. Mirage 2000-5s to Ukraine and to train its pilots. This is of the utmost importance.”
An anti-missile shield from NATO territory
“As we helped Israel shoot down Iran’s drones and missiles, we must help Ukraine shoot down Russia’s drones and missiles. We can do this by delivering more anti-missile systems, like the Patriot [américain]. But we can further strengthen Ukraine’s defense by deploying anti-missile systems along its border but on NATO territory. This would be the creation of a humanitarian shield to protect not only civilian populations and infrastructure, but also to protect the Ukrainian defense industry and our own delivery centers on Ukrainian soil. This proposal is currently being debated by certain NATO member states, notably Poland and Romania. [NDLR : des pays frontaliers de l’Ukraine].”
Invite Ukraine to join NATO
“This is about sending a clear message to Vladimir Putin and also to the Ukrainian people: it is time to initiate the process of Ukraine’s accession to NATO. We recommend that NATO propose a formal invitation to Ukraine to begin membership discussions, starting at the July NATO summit in Washington. This does not mean that Ukraine will join the Alliance overnight.
But it is of the utmost importance to formalize this invitation: many say that we cannot invite a country at war to join NATO. Now this is an extremely dangerous argument, because de facto it gives Putin a reason to continue the war and thus block any entry of Ukraine into NATO. By formalizing this invitation, we break this argument, we change its calculation and we remove this reason to continue the war. NATO needs Ukraine, it needs this bulwark against an aggressive Russia. By maintaining gray areas, we maintain danger zones and we almost invite Putin to attack.”
Exclude nothing
“On this principle, I agree with President Macron: for your deterrence to be credible, you must never exclude any option. Do not exclude deploying troops to help the Ukrainians, even if your president has no intention of doing so. to do at the moment. For your deterrence to be credible, you must leave your adversary in the dark about your intentions. This is exactly what Macron did.
Mobilizing frozen Russian billions
“We have about $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. We should use it all to help Ukraine. Washington supports this ambitious proposal but Europeans are concerned about the unwanted and negative consequences of such a decision, including retaliation from Russia and other countries.
But these fears are excessive: if the G7 remains united on this issue, it would be very difficult for Russia, China or Saudi Arabia to launch retaliation by withdrawing their assets from our countries and moving them elsewhere, to other currencies. Would you invest your foreign currency reserves in rubles, yuan or others? The strong currencies on the world market are the G7 currencies. So if the G7 coordinates, retaliation would be minimal.”
Let Europe finally wake up
“The Russian offensive towards Kharkiv seems to have been stopped and so I am more optimistic today than a few weeks ago. American deliveries have made the difference, with new weapons helping the Ukrainians on the ground. But It is obvious that the Ukrainians have paid a high price because of the six months of delay in American aid and our failure, as Europeans, to live up to our objectives. To sum up, we have not delivered. only half of what we promised.
It is embarrassing that North Korea manages to deliver as much ammunition to Russia in a month as Europe does in a year. We must accelerate and put our economies on a war footing. This requires a profound change in mindset and long-term engagements by our governments with defense industries to increase their capabilities.”
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