Baltic leaders criticised the US-Russian agreement on Russian diesel fuel supplies. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said that the agreement was a “major miscalculation,” warning that “deals with dictators are a road to hell,” ERR reported. He insisted that Russian revenues must be stopped and urged the EU to help Ukraine “blast Russia’s oil refineries to smithereens.”
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics refrained from drawing far-reaching conclusions from US President Donald Trump’s statements, noting that international politics had been marked by a “manageable level of unpredictability,” LETA reported. He stressed that Europe must continue to help Ukraine regardless of “which way the winds are blowing across the ocean.”
Meanwhile, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that the US-Russian diesel deal was “regrettable” and “slightly weakened” the Western position on Russia, BNS reported. He lamented the US lack of coordination with Europe. Despite the deal, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius assured that Lithuania’s trust in the US had not wavered, however.
Budrys called for tougher sanctions, increased pressure, and greater international isolation of Russia, DELFI reported. Specifically, he suggested that the EU designate Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU, as a terrorist organisation. On his part, Sinkevicius expressed hope that Ukraine conduct more strikes against data centres in Russia, BNS reported.