Russia ‘will not stop’ at Ukraine, Latvia warns

Latvian Foreign Minister Krišjānis Kariņš said Russia “will not stop” after the war in Ukraine and that NATO needs a “long-term strategy” to contain Moscow.

“Russia will not stop, Russia can only be stopped,” Kariņš told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday. “Stopping Russia in Ukraine does not mean that it is over. It simply means we will have to continue. That is what is important for NATO: that we will have to work on a long-term strategy of Russia containment.”

Kariņš, a former prime minister, has expressed his interest in succeeding Jens Stoltenberg as NATO’s leader, arguing that the alliance’s next secretary-general should come from a country which has met the 2-percent-of-GDP defense spending target — such as Latvia.

Because of Russia’s “imperialistic-fueled ideology,” Kariņš warned that the Kremlin’s threat is bound to continue after the Ukraine war. But NATO has to make sure that “the likelihood of any incidents is simply ruled out, by our resolve, by our investments in defense,” he said.

Kariņš is not the first top official to warn about Russia’s military ambitions beyond Ukraine. Last month, Belgian army chief Michel Hofman said the Kremlin could set its eyes on Moldova and the Baltic countries after Kyiv.

In his bid to become NATO’s next secretary-general, Kariņš is facing off against former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte — a favorite of major NATO countries like the U.S., Germany and France — and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Stoltenberg’s tenure, which has been extended four times, ends in October 2024.