Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios.
Speaker 2: Pok it's a great pleasure to be joined by the
Speaker 2: President of Latvia. President Edgars Rinkovich is with us live
Speaker 2: from the United Nations in New York on this important day,
Speaker 2: and mister President, we welcome you to Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 2: The President, in a news conference just a moment ago,
Speaker 2: as you were sitting down to talk with us on Bloomberg,
Speaker 2: said that NATO countries should shoot down aircraft entering their airspace,
Speaker 2: of course, referring to the Russian incursions on Polish airspace
Speaker 2: as well as Estonian airspace.
Speaker 1: Is your country prepared if that happens.
Speaker 3: Well. Actually, Latria as well as other Baltic states are
Speaker 3: under the NATO Air Patrolling mission, so that kind of
Speaker 3: decision should be taken by NATO command. But I think
Speaker 3: that President Trump and other leaders who have expressed their
Speaker 3: views on this issue, all right, if Russian aircraft keep flying,
Speaker 3: keep violating purer air space, NATO's airspace, then the only
Speaker 3: way how to stop them is to show force. And
Speaker 3: from that perspective, I would say that we are going
Speaker 3: to push for most regent NATO policy in this regard.
Speaker 2: Interesting, I'd love if you have more details on those
Speaker 2: changes and the potential for increasing air defenses along the
Speaker 2: Russian border. Is there a way to deter Russia from
Speaker 2: flying these missions?
Speaker 3: Yes, yes there is. Actually we have two issues here.
Speaker 3: Number one, it's drones that have been flying into the Polish,
Speaker 3: Romanian also Latvian territory. Mostly we have seen those kinds
Speaker 3: of incursions as tests, and here more anti drone defense
Speaker 3: is needed. Actually that's a bit also the kind of
Speaker 3: race when it comes to technologies. Number two, it's what
Speaker 3: happened with Estonia megs flying into the Estonian territory. And here,
Speaker 3: as I said, to some extent, the Baltic States are
Speaker 3: in a very peculiar position because we do not have
Speaker 3: our fighters. Since we joined NATO back in two thousand
Speaker 3: and four, there is so called Baltic a policing mission.
Speaker 3: What has been decided that that policing mission will become
Speaker 3: a full fledged a defense mission. And then I think
Speaker 3: that rules of engagement need also to be upgraded in
Speaker 3: a way that if Russians continue, then yes, indeed the
Speaker 3: opening of fire would be an alternative. Can we stop Russians? Yes,
Speaker 3: we have seen what happened with the Baltic see a
Speaker 3: couple of months ago, we had many incidents with underwater infrastructure.
Speaker 3: When so called Botics entry mission started, more ships, NATO
Speaker 3: ships patrolling the Baltic Sea. All of suddenly the pattern changed.
Speaker 3: The problem with Russians is that they're going to stop
Speaker 3: incursions in the balticre in the NATO airspace if they
Speaker 3: see show, of course, But at the same time they
Speaker 3: are going to find other ways how actually to test
Speaker 3: time to challenge the Alliance.
Speaker 2: So were you, essentially President Rinkovic describing a no fly
Speaker 2: zone for Eastern Europe, for border nations that NATO would
Speaker 2: work together on.
Speaker 1: Is that how you defend the skies?
Speaker 3: Not exactly no fly zone. No fly zone would mean
Speaker 3: that actually we stopped flying all aircraft civilian friendly NATO aircraft. Understand,
Speaker 3: I'm advocating for much stringent defense policy of the Alliance,
Speaker 3: as we just discussed.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about the idea of a
Speaker 2: drone wall. Baltic countries are apparently having this conversation, a
Speaker 2: system that would take down any drones that cross the border.
Speaker 2: Are you involved in those discussions? Could that be made reality?
Speaker 3: Yes, indeed we are talking about that. Indeed, we are
Speaker 3: learning a lot from Ukrainian experience. But of course we
Speaker 3: also said that development of technology at this time is
Speaker 3: so quick that actually it's quite challenging to find the
Speaker 3: right approach. But indeed, the Baltic nations or Eastern Flank
Speaker 3: nations are discussing also the drone wall, as well as
Speaker 3: actually counter mobility measures against any possible Russian incursion if
Speaker 3: that may happen.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you heard the President's speech earlier, President Trump's
Speaker 2: speech before the United Nations. Mister President, he spoke about
Speaker 2: the potential for secondary sanctions against Russia, but said he
Speaker 2: would only put them in place if European nations stopped
Speaker 2: buying Russian oil.
Speaker 1: Your reaction to that.
Speaker 3: I'm absolutely supporting that proposal by President Trump. Actually, latterly,
Speaker 3: along other countries that are bordering Russia, have been advocating
Speaker 3: for stopping buying Russian oil and gas since twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: We actually made that decision when Russians started their full
Speaker 3: scale aggression back in February twenty twenty two. So from
Speaker 3: that point of view, I do believe that President Trump
Speaker 3: is right. I do believe that all European nations must
Speaker 3: stop buying Russian oil and gas. And they must stop
Speaker 3: financing Russian war machines. So from that point of view,
Speaker 3: there is a point in what President Trump said in
Speaker 3: his address to the United Nations General Assembly.
Speaker 2: Well, what are you hearing, President, from your NATO allies
Speaker 2: who are in fact purchasing Russian oil?
Speaker 1: Will they make that commitment?
Speaker 3: I think that if there is a clear position from
Speaker 3: the United States, if other EU nations or NATO European
Speaker 3: allies do stop buying Russian oil and gas, and there
Speaker 3: is now alternative it's U SL and G. By the way,
Speaker 3: Latvia is buying currently around seventy five percent of the
Speaker 3: United States liquefied natural gas, then I think that those
Speaker 3: countries may change their mind. And I think that the
Speaker 3: position of the United States in this matter is very relevant.
Speaker 3: So I do hope that all capitals in Europe are
Speaker 3: hearing the statement from the United States at this point.
Speaker 1: Well, there's.
Speaker 2: A story coming out of the Pentagon here in Washington,
Speaker 2: the Department of Defense pulling back on funding for programs
Speaker 2: on NATO's Eastern flank, including the Baltic Security Initiative, which
Speaker 2: would impact your country. Are you hearing directly from the
Speaker 2: Pentagon on this and can countries like yours make up
Speaker 2: the difference.
Speaker 3: Well, we are in discussions with our colleagues in the
Speaker 3: United States Department of War, and at this point I
Speaker 3: would say that we are very grateful to the United
Speaker 3: States for all the assistants the country has provided to
Speaker 3: Latvia since establishment of our independence. But we are also
Speaker 3: working with the Congress, and I do hope that we
Speaker 3: are going to find the solution where we are going
Speaker 3: to continue this cooperation. Let me say that actually when
Speaker 3: it comes to the US aid in this regard, then
Speaker 3: we are mostly buying the US equipment and also we
Speaker 3: are then financing that purchase also not only from US funds,
Speaker 3: but also Latin or the Maltic funds. So this is
Speaker 3: where we are in the process. So I can't confirm
Speaker 3: that the kind of final decision has been made, and
Speaker 3: I do understand the push from the United States when
Speaker 3: it comes to more financing. But let me remind the
Speaker 3: viewers of Bloomberg also that countries like Latvia currently spent
Speaker 3: almost five percent on defense of GDP because we understand
Speaker 3: what capabilities we need. And I do hope that also
Speaker 3: this message is going to be heard in US government as.
Speaker 2: Well, spoken like the president of a frontline nation sharing
Speaker 2: a border with Russia. Certainly, I'm curious, mister President, what
Speaker 2: your thought was on the message today from President Trump.
Speaker 2: He spoke to the room, he said your countries are
Speaker 2: going to hell? Was that the message that you needed
Speaker 2: to hear today?
Speaker 3: I think that the United Nations is a great place
Speaker 3: where different opinions, different views are being expressed. And I
Speaker 3: think that sometimes, frankly, I'm attending those UNGA meetings in
Speaker 3: different capacity it is as the foreign minister before I
Speaker 3: became president since two thousand and nine, and sometimes you
Speaker 3: will probably need to get kind of very strong language
Speaker 3: to wake up. But definitely I hope that we are
Speaker 3: going to find a common language with everyone in the
Speaker 3: room when it comes to the critical issues of the
Speaker 3: global development, be it climate change or beat other issues. However,
Speaker 3: I think also that one thing that is currently an
Speaker 3: issue here with the United States is that this organization
Speaker 3: needs reform. Beat You and Security Council. We see that
Speaker 3: when it comes to the war in Ukraine or it
Speaker 3: used to be Syria a couple of years ago, this
Speaker 3: organization was not capable to deal with challenges that actually
Speaker 3: it was created for.
Speaker 2: That's a very diplomatic answer, mister President. President Trump referred
Speaker 2: to many countries of banfor instruction. Well true, true, due
Speaker 2: to their use of green energy. Does he have the
Speaker 2: wrong or the right idea there?
Speaker 3: I think that this discussion about climate change and what
Speaker 3: should we do is now developing, and you know, from
Speaker 3: time to time we get into extremes. Sometimes we get
Speaker 3: into extreme that we are all going to die immediately,
Speaker 3: and then we do some policies that handsight seem to
Speaker 3: be not so clever, and then we probably change the tone.
Speaker 3: In my own country, we have now that debate as well,
Speaker 3: what should we do and are we exaggerating? So from
Speaker 3: that point of view, I think that the climate change
Speaker 3: is real. The issue is how you deal with that,
Speaker 3: whether those policies we are agreeing are the right ones,
Speaker 3: whether windmills are the right answer. Back home, we have
Speaker 3: the same debate. I would actually be happy to continue
Speaker 3: that discussion, and probably in this kind of clash of
Speaker 3: opinions we can probably find the right policy as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Interesting, Before you leave us, mister president and get back
Speaker 2: to your meetings at the UN, I want to get
Speaker 2: back to where we started, and that is the looming
Speaker 2: threat from Russia. And specifically from Vladimir Putin. What is
Speaker 2: the message from your country, from you to Vladimir Putin
Speaker 2: as he considers pushing the line, as we've been referring
Speaker 2: to it in countries like Latvia, if he decides to
Speaker 2: fly into your airspace, if he sends drones or aircraft,
Speaker 2: what would be your warning ahead of that decision?
Speaker 3: My morning, would we learned from history because pushing the envelope,
Speaker 3: crossing the line at one point means that you are
Speaker 3: losing everything. And I think that the message that we
Speaker 3: are hearing from NATO allies, from President Trump, from President Dagan,
Speaker 3: from other leaders of the alliance are very very clear messages.
Speaker 3: So don't even try.
Speaker 2: President Edgars Rinkovic, the President of Latvia, with us live
Speaker 2: from the United Nations the General Assembled underway now in
Speaker 2: New York.
Speaker 1: Mister President, thank
Speaker 2: You for the insights and for spending time with us
Speaker 2: today on Bloomberg