“It is probably the most dangerous situation we have had in Europe since World War II,” Håkan Emsgård, the Swedish Ambassador to Egypt said regarding the latest updates in Ukraine.
When asked if he believes that Russia will invade Ukraine, the ambassador told Daily News Egypt: “I don’t know, I can’t tell the answer for this. Maybe Mr. Putin has the answer, but it is a very dangerous situation.”
He further noted that it is very important that all parties in this conflict take the responsibility and look for diplomatic solutions. “And of course, there is a special responsibility on Russia in this case,” he said.
Emsgård added that if Russia followed through on its threats and invaded Ukraine, the impacts will be very serious, and they would be of a long-term nature because it would affect the security situation in all of Europe.
“Everybody feels insecure, everybody wants to take measures based on that. We will all lose from such a situation.”
This conflict also impacts other parties of the world, including the MENA region and Egypt, according to Emsgård.
The ambassador explained that his country chaired the European Security Organisation last year, so Stockholm is deeply concerned about the security situation in the region.
“What we think is that it is very important for every country to independently choose their own security policy. Who they want to be allies with and who they don’t want to be allies with,” Emsgård said.
“For Sweden, we are an allied country, we have been that for many years, and we will continue to be that. We don’t appreciate when other countries are telling us which other countries we can work with, and this of course should apply to all other countries in Europe as well.”
