Defence Minister Bill Blair says NATO countries like Canada must ramp up their aid to Ukraine as support from the United States languishes in a legislative quagmire.
In an interview that aired Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live, Blair expressed optimism that the U.S. would eventually pass a significant aid bill to provide billions of dollars worth of military support to Ukraine, which is set to mark its second full year of full-scale warfare following Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
“We’re very confident the Americans are going to get through that political process as quickly as possible, and in the interim, the rest of us are all stepping up,” Blair told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.
Democrats in the U.S. Congress have sought to pass legislation that would provide billions in aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, as well as implement new measures on immigration. But Republicans have blocked the legislation, arguing it does not contain strict enough provisions around the U.S. border.
Defence Minister Bill Blair discusses Canada’s increased military presence in Latvia as well as Ottawa’s response to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters this week that there was “real concern about the United States being a reliable ally.”
Blair, speaking from the Munich Security Conference, said he believed American aid would eventually come through.
“They have been generous supporters and continue to be — there is obviously political activity taking place in the U.S. right now,” he said.
“But there was a strong discussion among all NATO members that we all have to step up and we all have to do more. And what we’re seeing among the other NATO members is a very concerted effort to increase production of munitions, to expedite and to move more quickly.”
Ukraine says it desperately needs ammunition, anti-air capabilities and aerial vehicles such as fighter jets and helicopters.
Last year, Canada pledged to provide a sophisticated air defence system worth over $400 million to Ukraine, but there is little clarity on when that system will actually be deployed to the country. Blair said the situation was “a little frustrating.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country can still repel Russia’s forces, but warns a cut in the flow of military aid could allow Russian President Vladimir Putin and his forces to take advantage on the battlefield.
“The new missile system is really important, and we’re working as fast as we can to get it delivered to Ukraine,” he said.
Canada also recently announced it would provide an additional $60 million to a program training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.
New weapons system for Latvia mission
Also during his European tour, Blair announced that Canada would purchase an air defence system for troops stationed in Latvia. Canada now has about 1,000 soldiers in the country, but it’s expected that number will grow to 2,200 by 2026.
In a separate interview on Rosemary Barton Live, Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds said his country was very supportive of Canada’s activities in the Baltic country and that the military readiness of the battle group there was improving.
The reliability of the NATO alliance was once more in the headlines this week after former U.S. president Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that don’t meet the allliance’s military spending target of at least two per cent of their gross domestic product.
Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds discusses the NATO defence ministers’ meeting and Canada buying air defence and anti-drone capabilities for troops in Latvia.
Spruds said it was important for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to be united in its approach.
“We should sustain this effort, this unified approach of dealing with different challenges all the time. The United States, absolutely, is indispensable in terms of providing security and strengthening the unified approach,” Spruds said.
“If you look in the past, yes, sometimes domestic political elements come into the picture, but once it comes to strategic foreign policy and security decisions, there is a unified approach among all allied nations.
Blair took a similarly optimistic view of the situation.
“I believe it is largely rhetorical,” he said, arguing that NATO is more energized than ever and that he believed Trump could come to understand the importance of the alliance.
“We rely and we trust the Americans will be there, because they’ve always been there.”
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