Pressemøde den 2. juni 2025

Følgende er en transskription af statsministeriets indledning til pressemødet den 2. juni 2025 i Vilnius med Litauens præsident Nauseda, NATO’s generalsekretær Mark Rutte, Polens præsident Duda, Rumæniens præsident Nicușor Dan og Ukraines præsident Zelenskyy.

Statsministeren: Thank you for hosting us today and thank you for inviting the Nordic countries to join you here today in Vilnius. Today’s meeting has been about one thing and one thing only: The security of our countries and the security of our continent. Deterrence and defence. The threat from Russia against us is real. And it is serious.

Russia is continuing its war in Ukraine. Putin is talking about peace during the day but bombing at night. We see a more aggressive Russian approach in the Baltic Sea Region. And it is assessed by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service that Russia sees itself in conflict with the West. And is preparing for a war against NATO. It is therefore crucial that we take bold and necessary decisions at the NATO summit in The Hague only three weeks from now. In my mind – and what we have discussed today – there is only one way forward: We need to invest massively in our collective security. All of us. And we need to do it fast.

NATO is by far the strongest military alliance in history.  And so, our starting point must be to focus on what is needed for that to continue to be so. To secure deterrence. And our ability to defend ourselves. But I have to say that Russia is not deterred merely by us agreeing on a new defence spending target. We need to deliver actual capabilities. And we need to do it fast. We must make sure that NATO always has the full range of capabilities necessary to deter and defend against any threat and adversary.

And at the same time. We need to continue our strong and steadfast support for Ukraine’s brave fight for freedom. Let me be frank, we have to donate what is needed on the battlefield. We have to provide more financing for arms production directly going into Ukraine. We already have a mechanism that works. And I think we have to implement stronger sanctions against Russia. It goes for the shadow fleet. Recently, we listed almost 200 additional vessels from the Russian shadow fleet. And what more has to come against the shadow fleet, against Russian banks and financial sector. And I think we have to end any remaining dependency on Russian energy, including oil, gas and nuclear energy. And to add one more thing, lower the oil cap.

I think all that on the table would put the necessary pressure on Russia to get to the table and actually negotiate on peace. And why is that? Because Ukraine deserves peace. But the peace must be comprehensive, it must be just and it must be lasting. And it has to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. I'm sorry to say, I think until now we haven't seen any signs that Russia is willing to actually commit to any of that.

So, our key task, at the moment, has to be to put Ukraine in the strongest possible situation and position on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. Europe, of course, needs a strong and independent Ukraine. I believe that once again the coming months will be paramount and we haven’t got much time. And therefore, we need commitment to take the right decisions on behalf of all Europeans now.