Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: NATO, E.U., Estonian Leaders Hold Joint News Conference. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 24, 2023 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:00:00]

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: Cut away from the world. Our sanctions are eroding sharply its economic base, slashing any prospect to modernize it. We will continue to put pressure on Russia and on those supporting it on the battlefield. We will continue going after Putin's cronies. And we will go after those helping Russia to circumvent sanctions or replenish its war arsenal.

At the same time, we work to ensure Ukraine's economic and military resilience. First, with continued financial support. EUR 67 billion we mobilized so far. Second, with increased military support, we aim to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers in the European Union. Our Member States are delivering military equipment.

And we will turn to joint procurement to deliver urgent military supplies for Ukraine, such as 155-millimeter ammunition. Equally important is to work with our defense industry to ramp up the production of this ammunition and other equipment needed by Ukrainian forces, but also to replenish our own stocks.

And dear Kaja, you rightly brought attention to this at the last European Council. And we are taking action.

Finally, this is not just about winning on the battlefield. Ukrainians are fighting for their right to choose their own future. And they have already chosen. They have chosen the European Union. They have chosen the unity of principles, as President Lennart Meri said.

The Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the trenches of Bakhmut are defending this unity of principles. And in these dark times, the hearts of Ukrainian people are warmed by the confidence that Ukraine will join the European Union one day. This is how principles shape geography.

Dear Kaja, today, I am proud to stand here together with you and you, Jens, in Tallinn celebrating Estonia's freedom and independence. And I am proud that we stand here together in support of the Ukrainian people and their fight for freedom and independence. I am certain that, like the people of Estonia, Ukraine too will prevail.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, please.

JENS STOLTENBERG, SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATO: Prime Minister Kallas, dear Kaja, congratulations on Estonia's Independence Day. And President von der Leyen, dear Ursula, it's an honor to be together with both of you here in Tallinn today on this very symbolic day.

Over a hundred years ago, Estonian troops fought bravely for their freedom and independence. Independence was short lived, but the Estonian people never gave up. And with the fall of the Iron Curtain, you regained your freedom.

And thank you so much for inviting me to be part of the celebrations today, the flag rising ceremony and the wreath laying ceremony was really moving. And it demonstrates how much you value your freedom.

Your history is a strong reminder that we cannot take our freedom for granted. Freedom is not for free. We must fight for it every day.

Today, it is the Ukrainian people who are bravely fighting for their freedom. And despite a dark year of despair and destruction, their determination and courage will no doubt prevail. One year ago, President Putin launched his full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. An illegal war of aggression. In blatant breach of basic international rules.

He wanted to break the will of the Ukrainian people. And he wanted to break our unity. President Putin failed. Ukraine stands. And NATO and the E.U. stand with Ukraine.

Yet, Putin has not given up his goals. He wants a different Europe, where Russia can dictate what neighbors do.

[04:05:02]

He is not preparing for peace. He is preparing for more war. So we must give Ukraine what they need to prevail.

Some worry our support to Ukraine risks triggering escalation. But there are no risk-free options. And the biggest risk of all is if President Putin wins. Because the message to him and other authoritarian leaders would be that they can use force to get what they want. That would make the world more dangerous, and us more vulnerable.

So supporting Ukraine is not just morally the right thing to do. It is also in our own security interest. That is why NATO Allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine. Working hand in hand with the European Union.

Again, Estonia is leading by example. Providing more military aid as a share of GDP than any other country. NATO presence protects the space for Allies to provide this support. Since 2014, we have significantly reinforced our presence and readiness, from the Black to the Baltic Sea, including here in Estonia.

NATO's multinational battlegroup in Tapa, led by the United Kingdom, deters aggression. Fighters from France and Germany help protect your skies. And NASAMS from Spain will augment your air defenses.

All this sends a clear message to Moscow. NATO will protect and defend Estonia. And every inch of Allied territory. Our Article 5 commitment is ironclad. All for one, and one for all. And at our Vilnius Summit in July, we'll take further steps to strengthen our collective defense.

We also see progress as regards the historic accession of Finland and Sweden into our Alliance, two close neighbors of Estonia. 28 out of 30 Allies have already ratified the accession protocols. I had good discussions with President Erdogan in Ankara last week.

We agreed to restart the talks and to convene a trilateral meeting between Finland, Sweden and Turkey at NATO Headquarters in mid-March under my auspices, to discuss the implementation of the agreement made last June and how to complete the accession process.

And it is good that the Hungarian parliament will start the ratification process next week. Our aim is for both Finland and Sweden to join as soon as possible. This will strengthen their security, it will strengthen Europe's security, and it will strengthen NATO.

So dear Kaja, dear Ursula, thank you once again, for our excellent discussions and at least your strong commitment to the strong transatlantic bond for North America and Europe, standing together to protect our freedom. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Now it's possible for me to do ask questions. Please do state your name, media outlet you're representing and to whom the question is addressed to. Please use microphone which with my colleague will assist and we have first ready there, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, thank you. Tamar Weinberg (ph) for Public Broadcasting. Questions to all of you actually, about China's position paper about Ukraine and it has 12 points. I would like to know do you find it credible, especially as it -- as the China abstained United Nations vote yesterday about Ukraine.

And also before the war started, you were shared intelligent info about Russia's troops and preparation. So, has United States shared any info about its claim made by Mr. Blinken that China is considering giving weapons to Russia? Thank you.

VON DER LEYEN: Yes. So indeed, Chinese paper, I think you have to see the principles they shared. It's not a peace plan, but principles that they shared. You have to see them against a specific backdrop. And that is the backdrop that China has taken side by signing, for example, an unlimited friendship right before the invasion, Russia's invasion in Ukraine started. So we will look at the principles, of course, but we will look at them against the backdrop that China has taken sides.

[04:10:17]

STOLTENBERG: On the question of surprise of military support from China to Russia, we have not seen any actual delivery of lethal aid. But what we have seen are signs and indications that China may be planning and considering to supply military aid to Russia, and China should not do that. Because that will be to support an illegal war of aggression. Breaching international law and violating the U.N. Charter. And China is a member of the U.N. Security Council and they have a particular responsibility to protect the U.N. Charter. And this is a war of aggression violating exactly that charter.

Then on the proposals and the points presented by China. So first of all, China doesn't have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine and they also signed that just days before the invasion, an agreement between President Xi and President Putin on limitless partnership with Russia.

So I think what we see now in Ukraine is that President Putin is not preparing for war. He is preparing for the exact opposite, for more war, for more new offensives, and therefore, most likely this war at some stage will end at the negotiating table.

But if we want a peaceful solution, we need to also realize that what happens around that negotiating table is totally dependent on the strength and the situation on the battlefield. So meaning that if we want a peaceful negotiated solution where Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation, then we need to support Ukraine military now because that's the only way to create the conditions where President Putin realize that he will not win on the battlefield.

He has to sit down and accept Ukraine as an independent sovereign nation in Europe. So, military support today is the way to achieve a peaceful agreement tomorrow.

KAJA KALLAS, ESTONIAN PRIME MINISTER: Yes, actually, I have nothing really to add because all was said. U.N. Charter is also something that China is and should be respecting. And it says the principles of territorial integrity and also the right to defend one's country and sovereignty. So if they are providing military aid to aggressor, then they go against this U.N. Charter. And that is dangerous to the peace of the world in general. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have our next one, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is (INAUDIBLE). I come from the (INAUDIBLE). I have one question to the President of the European Commission. And one question to the Secretary General of NATO. To the Commission, what measures will you take to prevent the circumvention of the European sanctions by the third countries? And to the NATO Secretary General, how NATO will help Moldova to secure its defense against Russia?

VON DER LEYEN: So we are -- in our sanctions packages, we are increasing the measures to make sure that they are neither loopholes nor a circumvention. We have a sanctions envoy, David O'Sullivan, who is traveling to different countries to reinforce the message that any kind of circumvention of sanctions will have consequences.

For example, we have included in our sanctions packages the possibility to list persons or entities that are even from third countries that are circumventing the sanctions by exporting goods from -- or importing goods to third countries from the European Union and then bringing them to Russia. So here, increasingly, we are giving a very clear message that this will not be tolerated, and this will have consequences.

STOLTENBERG: On Moldova, of course, we are concerned when we see the challenges they face, and that's a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine.

[04:15:08]

Moldova is a close and highly valued partner of NATO. We have been working with them for many years. We have agreed now to step up our partnership and also to help to build defense capacity. We have a tailored defense capacity building agreement in place to help to strengthen their different institutions and to help them to strengthen their resilience.

We also welcome, of course, efforts by individual allies, also know that the European Union is doing a lot to support Moldova. Because I think if there's one lesson, that at least, we can learn from the war in Ukraine is the importance of supporting those countries which are vulnerable for Russian aggression as soon as possible. And that also applies for Moldova. And that's the reason why I need to work more closer and provide more support to Moldova.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Next one, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Herman Gelmes (ph) from Delphi (ph). As you all know, any positive signal from these two large multinational powers can serve as a boost for morale for troops on the frontlines and an entire nation in suffering.

So my question to President von der Leyen would be Ukraine would like to begin accession talks to the E.U. within this year. Can you tell Ukrainians what their government can do to make that dream happen? And Secretary General Stoltenberg, President Zelenskyy is coming to the Vilnius summit and Ukraine would like to see a clear pathway to membership there. So what can the Ukrainians do to make that dream happen?

And I'd like the Prime Minister's thoughts on that as well. Thank you.

VON DER LEYEN: Yes, the accession process is a merit based process, so it's not a rigid timewise, but it depends on the candidate country. And it is amazing to see the determination of Ukraine to go through this thorough process, but at utmost speed.

And already their step forward to apply for becoming a candidate country, they had to do a lot, and it was impressive to see how they were delivering while fighting a war. It also shows the functioning of the administration and the highly digitized state of the administration, which is impressive.

Therefore, it is, of course, in the hands of Ukraine how they perform, how they reform, how they improve the status of their country with strong support from the European Commission, because this is our task, to advise and to support and to help as much as possible on that. So I can only say it is impressive to see the strong will of Ukraine to join the European Union, the willingness to reform thoroughly their country, and all this while fighting an aggressor.

This is outstanding. It's in their hands. We will have, as a process, an oral presentation of the progress in spring to the member states. But more important is the report in fall that summarizes for all candidate countries in the accession process their progress during the year. And I am confident that Ukraine will excel in this report in the fall that then will be presented to the member states.

STOLTENBERG: I invited President Zelenskyy to attend to the NATO summit in Vilnius in July. I really hope that he can be there in person but of course it depends on the situation because he is in the midst of a full-fledged war, invasion of his country.

NATO's position on membership for Ukraine remains unchanged. We have stated several times that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance. At the same time, we all realize that the first step to ensure that that will happen is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation.

Without a sovereign democratic free Ukraine, membership will not be an issue at all. So all our focus, all our efforts is now on ensure that Ukraine prevails, that Putin doesn't win, because then there will be no issue of membership for Ukraine.

Then when this war ends, then of course, we need to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself. Because there's a pattern of Russian aggression, Georgia in 2008, Crimea and Eastern Donbas in 2014, and then the full fledge invasion last year. And we need to make sure that when the war ends now, that Russia is not able to continue to chip away at European security, and we need to break this cycle of Russian aggression.

[04:20:13]

This will be about enabling the Ukrainians to have strong armed forces themselves so they can deter aggression themselves, but it will also be an issue of creating the framework and the political framework that sends a clear message to Moscow that it cannot continue to attack an independent, sovereign, democratic neighbor, Ukraine.

So we need to help Ukraine move forward on the Euro Atlantic path. Ukraine is part of the Euro Atlantic family and the first step is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign nation.

KALLAS: To add to that, gray areas are a source of conflict and war. And that's why NATO has been the peace project. We have to believe in Ukraine, and therefore we also have to give military aid so that Ukraine can defend themselves. And then when the war is over, then move on with the open-door policy of NATO.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Next one, please. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Marisa Ran (ph) for German Public Broadcaster RRD (ph). Question to the Secretary General. You mentioned talks with Turkey, how can NATO act on Turkey in order to speed up Sweden's joining process?

STOLTENBERG: First of all, this is a priority for NATO and for me. And I'm confident that both Finland and Sweden will become full members of the Alliance. Second, I have just met with President Erdogan and, of course, we discussed also how we can make progress on the accession of Finland and Sweden.

And we agreed to restart the talks to convene the meeting in Brussels at the NATO headquarters with Finland, Sweden and Turkey. And we need also to understand that, so far, this has been the quickest accession process in NATO's modern history. Finland and Sweden applied in May last year, already in June, 30 allies, also Turkey decided to invite them.

And we also, all 30 allies agreed, including Turkey on the accession protocols and all 30 allies have signed these accession protocols. Then 28 out of 30 allies have already ratified in national parliaments. The Hungarian parliament had made it clear that they will start their accession process of the discussions and the decisions last -- next week.

And then on Finland and Sweden, I cannot guarantee you any specific date. But on Finland, Turkey has made it clear that they don't see any problems with ratification. With Sweden, there are some issues still remains. I have made it clear that both Finland and Sweden have lived up to their commitments they signed up to at the NATO summit last year.

So I think the time has come to ratify both of them now. But of course, Turkey has now the position and then we have this trilateral mechanism to address how to ensure that the accession process continues to move forward. And the most important thing is not whether Finland, Sweden joins exactly at the same time. The most important thing is that they join us as soon as possible.

You can briefly add one more thing and that is that we need to understand that Finland and Sweden are in a totally different place now. They're much more secure now than before they applied. Because as part of the accession process, they have now been integrated more and more into NATO civilian and military structures, defense planning, capability targets.

We exercise more together NATO's increases presence, different allies have also provided bilateral security assurances. So it's absolutely inconceivable that Finland or Sweden will be faced with any military threats from Russia without NATO reacting. So we are making a lot of progress. We have come a long way already and I'm confident they will also finalize this process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So time for final question, please.

JAMES BAYS, AL JAZEERA CORRESPONDENT: James Bays from Al Jazeera. Secretary General, I've already asked you this once this week, but please can you tell us what evidence you have that China is giving -- is thinking of giving weapons to Russia?

And to all three of you, I know this is the final question, so very quickly and directly. You're here for Estonia's independence, but what message directly to President Putin do you want to send today about Ukraine's independence?

[04:25:05]

STOLTENBERG: Well, we are monitoring closely what China is doing. And we have seen signs they may be considering and planning to send lethal aid to Russia. This will be a very big mistake. This is very serious and that's also why the United States and other Allies have conveyed so clearly that this should not happen.

Then briefly on the message of Moscow. The message to Moscow is that President Putin started this war. President Putin can end this war today by withdrawing his forces. If he doesn't do that, we will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes. And Allies have provided unprecedented level of military support to Ukraine.

And because this is about Ukraine, it will be a tragedy if President Putin wins, for the Ukrainians, but it will be dangerous for all of us. And therefore, this is in our own security interest to ensure that Ukraine prevails.

VON DER LEYEN: Ukraine is not only fighting for its own independence and territorial integrity, but also for universal values. And these are the values of peace, respect for the international law, respect for the U.N. Charter. And therefore, Ukraine is not only fighting for its independence, but also for all of us.

And we will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes. We have shown resilience, unity and determination during the last 12 months. And President Putin can bet on the fact that this will be doubled down in resolve, unity and determination to stand by Ukraine.

KALLAS: As we are united, as shown, and we are united behind Ukraine, and Russia can't win this war. So sooner, Russia realizes that this aggression was a mistake, the better to everybody. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So thank you, everyone. This concludes the press conference. Thank you for attending. Thank you for following online. Have a great afternoon here at Ostrava (ph).

KALLAS: Thank you.

STOLTENBERG: Thank you.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine is fighting for all of us said Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. Fighting for their right to their future that -- future that they've chosen is the European Union. We also heard from the head of NATO as well, saying Putin wanted to break our unity and he's failed. This, of course, all on the one year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine. Questions about China as well as, Nic, which is obviously the talking point of the day and whether or not it does plan to arm Russia with weapons they can use in this war. And Stoltenberg make it very clear that there are signs that China might be planning to do that which would be seismic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And this is exactly what the U.S., the White House and the State Department have been telling allies and partners together. And it was very interesting to hear from both Ursula von der Leyen and Jens Stoltenberg, when they were asked about China's 12 points that it released today, these sort of things that they want to see happen in the conflict.

It was very clear that from the E.U. perspective and NATO perspective, China has taken a side in this already. It is not the neutral parliament. It's signed right before the war. Both of them stated this, that China signed this unlimited partnership agreement with Russia.

Yes, it is an open question if China is supporting with weapons supplies. And if it did, it would be potentially very big because China has a massive amount of capacity to make the sort of weapons and provide Russia with a technology it's struggling to find. I mean, let's face it, it's been turning to Iran to provide it with drones to fight.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: Russia is having some equipment, supply issues. So this would be big. But no evidence. But I was very struck by that, that China in this -- and I think this goes to the heart of what Wang Yi, the top foreign policy adviser to President Xi said at the Munich Security Conference, the week last weekend, that Europe needs to listen clearly that legitimate security concerns must be addressed.

I think for all the E.U. and NATO representatives who were there in Munich, that was understood. It's a message China's saying that Russia security interests, which are the ones that are not taken at face value, that this is an unwanted aggression by Russia and invasion, unwarranted invasion of Ukraine, which again, there was Ursula von der Leyen or Secretary General there of NATO --

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: -- both said China hasn't even mentioned that --

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: -- which is a starting position for everyone else. So yes, to the point of China, not an impartial player in this.

FOSTER: No. Kristie Lu Stout, obviously, following us very closely from Hong Kong as well. They came out with a position paper, didn't they?