Estonian PM Kallas to BBC: Putin afraid of war with NATO
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Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in an interview to BBC that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is very good at sowing fear in Western societies, while he is also afraid of finding himself at war with NATO.
Asked whether Kallas is worried about Russia’s nuclear threats, the Estonian prime minister said: “Of course, we have to take everything seriously. He [Putin] has been threatening nuclear war for quite some time. But they are just words. He is very good at sowing fear within our societies and really listening [to] what we’re afraid of,” Kallas said, adding that the Kremlin then amplifies the fears that are most effective in different societies. “You’re afraid of nuclear war, so I’ll send the [corresponding] signal to make your society go, oh no, we can’t do that,” Kallas said.
The Estonian PM said that this leads to a trap of self-deterrence. “If we are afraid, then we start to self-deter, which is what Putin wants,” Kallas noted.
“We also have to think about what Putin is afraid of, and he’s afraid of going to war with NATO. He doesn’t want that. And we, of course, don’t want that either,” the head of government added.
“This is to understand the messages he’s sending out, so we’d be afraid and refrain from [taking the] decisions we would otherwise take.”
Kallas is currently on a visit to the USA where she attended the annual gala dinner of the Gridiron Club Saturday, sitting at U.S. President Joe Biden’s table. Reuters reported that Kallas also had a chance to talk to Biden about the war in Ukraine.
“We talked about supporting Ukraine and what we could do to help Ukraine win the war. Joe Biden told me about the state of things in America and assured me that we remain a key ally no matter what, all of which the U.S. will keep in mind,” Kallas told “Aktuaalne kaamera” news Sunday.
“The financial pledges and steps the U.S. is taking and will take in the near future, which have gradually been made public, were reaffirmed. He explained what is happening in the Congress and how to overcome these things. It is election season here [in the USA], which affects matters,” the premier said.
