Putin: European peacekeepers in Ukraine are a legitimate target

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that sending European troops to Ukraine after a peace agreement is signed would mean an immediate resumption of the war. According to the TASS news agency, he called such troops a “legitimate target” for the Russian side.

Putin said that Europe responds to the U.S. proposal to agree on security arrangements for the whole continent by saying: peace in Ukraine first, talks afterward. At the same time, in his words, the Europeans intend to deploy troops there right after peace is made. “We are back at the very beginning,” he concluded.

What force is Europe discussing

Europe has come up with the idea of a multinational force to support Ukraine (MNF-U) that could move into the country once the war ends. Combat would not be its main task: it would help the Ukrainian army or ensure the security of Ukrainian airspace.

MNF-U is led by France and Britain. About ten countries are taking part in its first exercises in Poland. Czechia is not taking part, although it received an invitation. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) called the issue a matter for Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna, who sits in the government for SPD.

Reaction in Czech politics

In explaining the minister's decision, SPD used arguments similar to Putin's. The movement's leader and Chamber of Deputies speaker Tomio Okamura said the Defense Ministry had wrongly included sending soldiers to the exercises in its plans, and stressed that Czechia would not take part in military actions in support of Ukraine. Deputy Jindřich Rajchl, elected on the SPD ticket, echoed Russian rhetoric by saying that this would mean war with Russia.

Meanwhile, recent talks between U.S. representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Putin suggest that the United States has begun discussing with European countries the future security architecture in Europe. It is meant to include Russia and Ukraine and prevent a repeat of the conflict. Russia is so far refusing to stop fighting, in which it has repeatedly struck civilian targets as well.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz