No option but to stop Russia in its tracks: Latvia

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, January 8

Among the Europeans who have made a beeline for India is Russia’s close neighbour Latvia. Its State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andris Pelšs was here to explore the opportunities from the shifting of supply chains away from China, and, the more important existential issue of the Ukraine war which has made Moscow’s other land-border sharing countries trepidations.

In an interview with The Tribune, Pelss said Riga, contrary to South Block’s perception, doesn’t see the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as a European war but Russia’s challenge to a rules based system. “Russia must be stopped. The problem is much wider than a regional one. It is a global security issue with global repercussions and sets a precedent to other international actors. It is a very blatant war of aggression without provocation and will have a profound impact on other actors if it goes unpunished,” he says.

Conceding that India’s complaint about a non-functional UN has basis, Pelss said Latvia agrees that the international environment has changed since the 1940s when the UN was set up. “India has been arguing for a systematic review especially of the UN Security Council. We are in the same position. Text based negotiations would show that way and not by brute force. We still hope that as humanity we can find a better way to adapt the international system of managing peace than just going to systemic wars,” he observed, adding that Latvia feels that Russia’s actions are potentially a case for the International War Crimes Tribunal.

After meeting senior MEA officials, he felt that though the approaches are different, in general both Latvia and India are like- minded countries. “We would be appreciative if we could have the same international reaction,” he felt.

Russia, he said, has had to fall back on tactics of terrorising the civilian population and will not stop until it is stopped because the Kremlin wants to reconstitute the old imperialistic Russia/USSR. Putin was not deterred in 2008 (Georgia) and Ukraine (2014) and “there is no reason to believe that it will stop unless it is stopped”. Riga’s perception is that Russia was not preparing for a long fight and one indication that it is not doing well is its resort to “terror tactics’’.

If weaning India away from Russia was one objective of Pelss’ India visit, the other was exploring economic opportunities. “Latvia is a popular destination for students. Indians are the largest group of students mostly focused on ICT. We are also working with universities to make offers more understandable and attractive for quality students from India,’’ he observed.

“We are also looking at how we can benefit from the global supply chain environment. The disruption started with the Covid and the war compounded it. Some global supply chains are switching away from China. We are looking at how to position ourselves to benefit from this change,” he said.