UPDATED: Top government officials, professors, Members of Parliament and foreign policy experts were among Norwegians reacting with disbelief and disgust to US President Donald Trump’s claim that Ukraine started the war with Russia. Support for Ukraine, meanwhile, soared again, while respect for the US administration is hitting rock-bottom.
“Europeans can’t sit still and listen to this nonsense from Washington,” Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor of political science at the University of Oslo, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) Wednesday afternoon. “There is no doubt about what the facts are here,” she added, stressing that it was indeed Russia that invaded Ukraine three years ago.
“The statements coming from Trump now are absolutly crazy,” Matlary told NRK. “Europe has to react to this, as fundamental norms for state systems are now being turned upside down.”
Matlary, also a former state secretary and envoy to the Vatican, was referring to Trump’s statements at a press conference the day before at which the new US president ridiculed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, blamed Ukraine for starting Russia’s war on its neighbour, made erroneous claims about Zelensky’s voter approval ratings and blasted the Ukrainian president for not coming up with his own peace pact with Russia. Trump also suggested Zelensky was a “dictator,” since no election has been held in Ukraine since Russia invaded Urkaine in February 2022. Trump further said he was “disappointed” over all the objections to Zelensky not being included in proposed peace talks between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
That’s all sparked massive criticism of Trump and his administration. It unleashed a torrent of outrage from leaders of Norway’s political parties on both the left and the right, unusual when it was all directed at the leader of what has been Norway’s most important ally.
The Conservatives leader Erna Solberg, a former prime minister, told newspaper VG that Trump is “spreading Russian propaganda,” while her former foreign minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, said Trump’s claim that Ukraine’s leader is a “dictator” was “completely unreasonable and incorrect.” Søreide said that Trump should also be reminded that elections weren’t held in many countries during World War II either.
The leader of the Liberal Party, Guri Melby, called Trump’s remarks “dangerous” and described them as “direct lies.” The leader of the Greens Party, Arild Hermstad, said Trump’s remarks were “frightening” and suggested Trump was becoming increasingly radicalized. “It’s looking like the US has switched sides and decided to let Urkaine fall.”
Even the leader of Norway’s most right-wing party in Parliament, the Progress Party, minced no words in venting her anger at Trump. “I think it’s very serious when he comes out with utter lies,” Sylvi Listhaug tol NRK. She also made it clear that Zelensky is “a legally elected president of Ukraine, who has been through incredibly tough years and made a formidable contribution.”
Trump’s remarks also set off new crisis meetings in Norway and the rest of Europe, in which Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre took part, after having to settle for being represented by Denmark at another meeting in Paris earlier in the week. Trump’s statements were “completely incorrect,” claimed Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Wednesday. Støre went on to state that Trump deserved strong criticism for saying what he did.
“Everyone who followed what happened on the morning of February 24, 2022 knows that this was an attack (by Russia) from the air and on the ground by tens of thousands of soldiers against Ukraine,” Støre said. He also branded Trump’s “dictator” reference as “deeply unreasonable,” stressing how Zelensky was “elected by a large majority and wound up in a war in the middle of his term. With a country under full attack, thousands of its people on the front lines who are defending their country, and millions of refugees both internally and outside the country, there simply haven’t been normal circumstances to hold an election. So I distance myself (from what Trump said).”
Later in the day Norway’s prime minister took part in a new, hastily called crisis meeting with other European leaders, at which his message was that Ukraine must sit at the negotiating table when any peace pact with Russia is discussed.
“I will state clearly from the Norwegian side,” Støre said before the meeting, “that there won’t be any peace talks about Ukraine without Ukraine.” He stressed how it also is important that Europe gathers together on this, and also has a say at the bargaining table.
“This (the war and threats from Russia) is happening in Europe, and when peace comes, it’s Europe that will need to follow it up,” Støre said. When he left the meeting, he said he thinks European countries and Canada shared his analysis of the situation, along with recognizing the need for ongoing and increased support for Ukraine. Denmark announced plans for a huge increase of financial aid for Ukraine, dedicated to buying weapons.
‘Kremlin propaganda’
Øyvind Svendsen, a senior researcher at the Norwegian foreign policy institute NUPI, was also highly critical of Trump. “If Trump now thinks that Zelensky and Ukraine started this war, it can’t be interpreted as anything other than absolutely, completely wrong,” Svendsen told NRK. He also equated it to “Kremlin propaganda,” at a time when Russia is under the most pressure to call off its war that Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he’d win in a matter of weeks, only to see it drag on, unresolved and with the Ukrainians defending themselves for three years.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide agreed with Svendsen. “Let me be also be very clear about this,” EIde told reporters on Wednesday. “This war is illegal and there is no doubt that it was started by Russia.” Many date the start of the war back to 2014, when Russia first “annexed” Crimea, and attacked the rest of Ukraine eight years later.
Several countries that are members of the EU took part in Wednesday’s meeting, either in person on via video link, along with Norway, Great Britain and Canada. Mixed signals from Washington and Moscow continued, with Putin stating that Trump wants Ukraine to be included in any peace talks, and that he was ready to meet the US president after their aides met in Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
