Will NATO send troops to Ukraine? Estonia’s Kaja Kallas on war, Trump and European defense
Power Play
POLITICO
4.2 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 February 2024
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As European leaders gathered in Paris this week, there was a sense of foreboding about the war in Ukraine, and the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is a further reminder of how far the Kremlin will go to suppress its foes.
Nowhere is the threat posed by Russia felt more acutely than on Europe’s Eastern frontier — and especially in Estonia, home to a significant ethnic Russian population.
In this episode, host Anne McElvoy talks to Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas about the war in Ukraine, as it enters its third year, her campaign to be NATO’s next secretary-general and how she feels about being on Putin's "wanted" list.
Kallas also responds to suggestions that Western allies could send troops to Ukraine — and described how seriously she takes Donald Trump’s threat not to defend NATO countries who don't pay up on defense.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We begin in France where President Emmanuel Macron says nothing is off the table when it comes to stopping Vladimir Putin. |
| 0:09.0 | There is no consensus today to send ground troops in an official endorsed and sanctioned manner, |
| 0:15.0 | but in dynamic terms nothing should be ruled out. |
| 0:19.0 | Nothing is off the table, according to France's Emmanuel Macron. |
| 0:23.7 | Could some of Europe's leaders be thinking the unthinkable as the war in Ukraine |
| 0:28.0 | enters its third year and the Russian bear shows no sign of loosening its grip on Ukrainian territory. |
| 0:35.0 | As European leaders gathered in Paris this week, there was a sense of foreboding, |
| 0:39.0 | and the death in prison of Alexei Navarre only |
| 0:42.0 | is a further reminder of just how far the Kremlin will go to |
| 0:45.6 | suppress its foes. Nowhere is the threat posed by Russia felt more acutely than on Europe's |
| 0:51.7 | eastern frontier, especially so in Estonia, home to a significant |
| 0:56.1 | ethnic Russian population. |
| 1:01.1 | Welcome to Power Play from Politico, where we talk to some of the world's most |
| 1:04.7 | influential people on both sides of the Atlantic. I'm Anne McElvoy and my guest |
| 1:09.6 | this week is the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaya Kallas. |
| 1:14.0 | On President Putin's wanted list, she's one of the most defiant voices, warning of the danger |
| 1:19.1 | of further Russian aggression, and she was recently talked about as a candidate to lead NATO. What happened to that? |
| 1:25.6 | Kaya Kallis, welcome to Powerplay. Thank you for having me. |
| 1:29.6 | I'm going to dive straight in Prime Minister and say you've made little secret of your ambition |
| 1:33.8 | to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General of NATO when he steps down in the autumn. |
| 1:40.0 | Have you given up on that now that Mark Rutter seems to be the runaway favorite endorsed by US, UK, France, Germany? |
| 1:47.4 | It's getting a bit more difficult for you, isn't it? |
... |
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