00:00I spoke exclusively with the Latvian Prime Minister Andres Kulbergs yesterday after the
00:05news broke that Latvia had dropped its veto against the EU's latest sanctions package against
00:11Russia. The reason that Riga dug its heels in so significantly against this is that France
00:17successfully lobbied for the removal of Alisha Uzmanov from the sanctions list as part of a
00:22prisoner swap deal with Azerbaijan and Slovakia with the removal of Mikhail Friedman. Riga didn't
00:28want this as well as a range of other nations particularly the Baltics. This means now that
00:35these individuals can travel to the European Union and access money frozen within the European Union.
00:42They haven't been able to do this since 2022 but the gist of why the Latvian Prime Minister dropped
00:48his veto instead moving to an abstention is that he didn't want to risk the 2,600 other individuals
00:55and entities that are a part of this package effectively now sanctioned for the next three
01:01years. He did warn however that this could set a dangerous precedent when it comes to haggling
01:07over the sanctions packages in particular. He doesn't want this to be a political bargaining chip
01:13in the future. So I spoke to Andres Kulbergs and I started by asking him whether he was disappointed
01:20by Paris and Bratislava when it comes to this issue.
01:25Generally yes because Latvia stood to the end, the last one in Europe to be against this because we consider
01:33if war is continuing and the aggression and the occupation of Ukraine is happening there cannot be any
01:40discussion of any sanctions. Either it is sports what we've seen, either culture and now one by one
01:48cherry picking out of sanctions. That is not the way to go. That is normalizing Russia.
01:53So but there I cannot communicate and I cannot know the reasons behind the national security
02:01aspects of each of those countries positions. I can't speak for them but I speak for for Latvia
02:08and for our position and for Europe's unity. It's important.
02:12You spoke on the phone to French President Emmanuel Macron. Did he not communicate why he needed
02:17that individual in particular to be delisted?
02:20I understand it's a matter of France's national security, a very highly important matter which
02:27should be communicated by Macron himself, Emmanuel. So I would not be comfortable on communicating this
02:36further because that's not my my business at the moment. I'm worried an important point is about Latvia,
02:44you know, the eastern flank security. And that's because these two individuals directly are associated
02:51also in Latvia because we have their frozen assets here. And that's the reason we we are worried about
02:57our security and Europe's eastern flank security. Thus, I have pushed as well for this not to happen. So that's
03:05why we
03:06we were the last one standing. And we said we had a choice. We had a choice to stand to
03:12the end. But that was a high
03:13risk of European unity. And it was an issue. Do we let go 2600 by end of today? And we
03:23we consulted with Ukraine
03:24about it was Mr. Zelensky and the Prime Minister. And it's also their their point. And they also said it's
03:31not worth risking that
03:33we let loose all 2600, including Putin himself. Thus, it's better to keep the unity and have this
03:41compromise. And we stressed as well that we have to have more allied forces in Latvia. And we need the
03:49support
03:50of France. And France already did did good with was the Rafael jet fighter fighting off the drones what we
03:57have. But we need more
03:58presence here. And that is something we both agreed. Mr. Macron has also agreed to come over to Latvia to
04:04see himself the situation on the eastern flank. You're talking a lot about unity here, particularly
04:10from French President Emmanuel Macron. But still, are you not disappointed in the way that this has
04:15played out? You've managed to save face. But what message does it send to the 2600 individuals and
04:21entities that are still listed? Could they compromise or negotiate to try and get delisted as well?
04:26We spoke. We spoke. We spoke all night and this day. Very important matter is that we all have in
04:34place 36 months instead of six months. So 36 months frozen. Nothing can be taken out of 2600. No one
04:43can
04:43just go and cherry pick. That's it. We close the books. And you spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr
04:49Zelensky on the phone. Is this what he communicated to you that it's better to have these sanctions locked in
04:54for 36 months or risk derailing at all? No, no, we can't. We coordinated the information through
05:02also the Prime Minister of Ukraine and Zelensky that in the interests and he has talks in in New York
05:12now
05:12in the UN. And there's a discussion with Macron himself as well as Mr. Trump and Wanderlion. These all meetings
05:19take place. And it's important that we support Ukraine to the most their position. But we all
05:25understood it's not worth risking for these two individuals, the whole 2600. So it's a better position
05:31that there is no country which can go and now in six months again have anyone taken out. So 36
05:39months,
05:40even if there's peace talks, even if there's anything changing, will remain.
05:45What do you think this saga in Brussels regarding the sanctions, what message does that send Russia
05:50regarding peace?
05:53I don't, I don't consider myself that this will, this is something to, to, to, to impact the peace
06:00talks. No, this is something, this is not a good message, generally not. This, I'm worried here about
06:08the playbook, which it leaves. I don't, I don't think this is a very good example because that gives a
06:16message, oh, hey, we, we arrest some politicians somewhere and then we can ask for a sanctions
06:22package. You know, this is, this is not a good playbook. And that's exactly why we freeze. It's
06:2836 months. That's it. No discussion.
06:31You've also joined us on Euronews before. We've previously spoken about the Baltic security
06:36situation, but what is your assessment today? Has it changed? Do you think Russia could mount a more
06:41aggressive threat threat when it comes to the Baltics and in particular Latvia?
06:46Yes, we've had definitely our security meetings over here. At the moment, there is no direct
06:54information. We've seen also the Belarusian exercises, military exercises. They were
06:59lacking the Russian counterpart there, so they don't have the man force at the moment. But things can change.
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