Leaders at a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) agreed that military aid for Ukraine must continue.
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President of Finland Alexander Stubb at the Joint Expeditionary Force leaders’ JEF summit in Tallinn, Estonia on December 17, 2024. Image: Jussi Nukari / Lehtikuva
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said the most important topic discussed at a meeting of leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) was supporting and arming Ukraine.
Stubb made the comments as he attended a meeting of leaders from ten countries that belong to the JEF in Tallinn, Estonia on Tuesday. Russia’s ongoing attack on the country began in February 2022.
The members agreed that, although discussions about a possible ceasefire and peace negotiations have arisen recently, military aid for Ukraine must continue.
Echoing those sentiments, Stubb said that providing defence aid to Ukraine is important, because the war-torn country needs to be strong when entering eventual peace negotiations.
The JEF leaders also emphasised that point, as well as the need for security guarantees for Ukraine. According to Stubb, Ukraine joining JEF would not offer the country security guarantees.
The JEF is a UK-led multilateral framework, formed by ten countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Its aim is to become a more agile actor on the regional defence stage than Nato, while also being an asset to the military alliance.
JEF primarily focuses on the defence of Northern Europe and the Baltic region, but the group also discussed the possibility of including Ukraine as a member.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the group via video link.
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(From left) Sweden’s PM Ulf Kristersson, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, the Netherlands’ PM Dick Schoof, British PM Keir Starmer, Norway’s PM Jonas Gahr Störe, Estonia’s PM Kristen Michal, Latvia’s PM Evika Silina, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda and Iceland’s Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir. Image: Leon Neal / AFP
“The security guarantees would come from Nato and Article 5,” Stubb said, referring to the defence alliance’s collective defence clause.
Going forward, Stubb said that Finland supports Ukraine joining Nato.
“In the long run, our task is to get all Nato allies on the same page. It’s not something that can be done today, but it will certainly be a very important topic of discussion in coming months,” Stubb said.
EU and Nato countries have recently discussed the possibility of sending European peacekeepers to Ukraine if it began to engage in peace negotiations with Russia.
However, Stubb said talk about sending peacekeeping forces to the country was premature.
He said that at the moment, deploying a peacekeeping operation there is not a realistic option, due to escalation risks and because such an effort would require hundreds of thousands of troops.
“We concluded that it is too early at this stage,” Stubb said at a press conference after Tuesday’s meeting.
There has also been speculation about the possibility of Poland and Germany joining JEF, and Stubb said he was open to the idea of expanding the group’s membership.
“Perhaps in the long term, we could also consider including other Nato countries in this formation, especially those around the Baltic Sea,” Stubb told reporters.
Tuesday marked the first time Stubb attended a JEF meeting as president.
“[JEF] was useful before we became members of the group, but in many ways, it is particularly useful right now,” Stubb said.
The group agreed on Tuesday to intervene in the activities of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of cargo ships, for example by having authorities check the vessels’ insurance paperwork.
The shadow fleet is known to transport Russian oil via the Baltic Sea, for example, which helps the country to circumvent international sanctions.
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Publish date : 2024-12-17 08:30:00
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