Lord Wood of Anfield, a Foreign Office minister, has said a ceasefire in Ukraine cannot be conditional on rethinking Europe’s security architecture, and that pressure on Russia must not ease, according to remarks made at the Atlantic Future Forum in Oslo.
Speaking on board HMS Prince of Wales, Wood, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the FCDO, said “the ceasefire when it happens cannot have as a condition of it rethinking the security architecture of Europe”. He went on: “A ceasefire has to happen, and then we have to have a clear discussion about a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO.” He said he hoped the principles of any peace would not give way to a decade of disparagement of multilateral institutions and international law.
Earlier on the panel, he said: “I mean, I have low expectations, but I hope for Abu Dhabi.” He said that when a ceasefire comes, however imperfect, “the goal must not be just to restore an era that has gone”, and that “the only way that we’ll get any sort of ceasefire is continuing pressure on Russia.” He said coordinated pressure must not ease because of the talks: “It’s crucial to getting Russia to give up on a military adventure that it is pursuing.”
Asked how Europe keeps citizens paying for defence if Russia appears pacified, Wood said Russia’s demands for the demilitarisation of NATO’s eastern flank and for neutrality will continue “whoever’s running it”. He said: “We have to remind our citizens of Russia’s extraordinary investment in new technology, in weapon systems, in nuclear-armed torpedoes”. He said higher defence spending remains as important as ever, but added: “But security is going to become something that departments of education, departments of health, have to incorporate into the way they think of their capital spending, their program design, rather than just leaving it to ministries of defense.”
He said Ukraine would be a catalyst for rethinking Western security, and that a British defence plan written before the war had to be rethought because of what the conflict revealed.
Britain has been deepening planning for a multinational mission to support Ukraine after any ceasefire. Wood said in his keynote earlier that day that Britain had recently announced a further £10 billion of economic and military support for Ukraine.
