Russia Is Provoked by Weakness, Not by Strength, Says Estonia’s PM Kaja Kallas

In a recent interview with Channel 4 News, Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, the soon-to-be EU's next High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, spoke about the importance of continuing to provide military help to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable.

Kallas commented that what was happening in Ukraine must be a concern for everyone.

“It should hit home everywhere”, Kallas said. “If we are not able to help Ukraine militarily enough, then Russia might move further.”

She noted that NATO can not afford weakness.

“That is why we have to invest in defense, that’s why we have to train so that it would deter the aggressor from taking another step. If we are weak then the future might be very grim,” Kallas added. “Like the historian Timothy Snyder said that in order for a country to become better it must lose its last colonial war, and Russia has never lost its last colonial war.”

When asked about Russia's latest advances in Ukraine and whether it’s the fault of NATO’s delay of arms, Kallas avoided hopeless thinking. 

“The price goes up with every hesitation, with every delay,” she said. “But we should avoid the trap of being overly pessimistic. Russia has not been able to use this opportunity window when the military aid did not reach Ukraine and they have not made big advances.”

The Estonian Prime Minister refuses to believe that the West’s help for Ukraine is provoking Russia.

“The aggressor is only provoked by weakness, not by strength. We have seen in the near history that giving in to the dictator has not really helped. If you think about Minsk agreement, if you think about Georgia, if you think about steps like this, this appetite only grew. And what we should learn from the Second World War is that when aggression pays off somewhere, it serves as an invitation to use it elsewhere.”