this is not enough, we must do much more , we must continue to do everything so that putin's regime pays for this aggression against ukraine and against the democratic world. a very serious price is needed for this, much more, because now it has become quite clear and everyone must understand that putin's regime understands only balance forces, so if we can make him pay a high price , then they will understand that they themselves are not interested in continuing this military aggression against ukraine. therefore, in this confrontation, we must be as strong and unmoved as possible, mr. minvareli, let's talk a little about 2014, because as we all know, the russian war in ukraine began in 2014, after russia illegally annexed crimea and started a war in donbas, that's when the european union introduced sanctions, do you have that these sanctions were a little too

weak and therefore they did not stop further aggression against ukraine. you are right. at that moment, the european union did not react properly. as you already said in 2014 after the russian aggression in crimea, as well as in the luhansk and donetsk regions, the european union introduced sanctions, then decided to stop holding certain meetings at the ministerial level, then also decided to exclude russia from the g8 and did several things with which they wanted to convince russia that aggression against ukraine was unacceptable, but this was not enough therefore, a whole series of european political leaders who continued to conduct a dialogue with putin probably convinced him that he could continue his aggression against such countries as ukraine, moldova, georgia, that is why i believe that at that time we had the opportunity to show greater

confidence and strength in relation to putin, and then we could make him pay the highest price for this aggression, explain to such politicians that it is impossible to conduct a dialogue with a country that does not respect sovereignty and territorial integrity the integrity of its neighbors, so i completely agree with you about the fact that at that time the reaction of the european union was not strong enough. thank you, mr. wingarelli, you already said that there is a kind of opposition to the introduction of the sixth package of sanctions and there are several countries that do not want to adopt this package in its current wording with the ban on russian oil and gas, does this mean that how is it correct to say that there is no unity in the european union now, see again unity in the bean union right now it screen it is quite clear that in this

european union, which consists of 27 countries, it is becoming more and more difficult to make joint decisions on sensitive issues, there is no doubt about this and it does not only apply to imports of russian oil, for example, when the european union tries to reach a common opinion regarding migrants or refugees with syria and afghanistan, it is very difficult to do, nevertheless, we must find points of contact and adopt common positions. i am sure that during the meeting of the european union, we will receive a ban on the import of russian oil and if hungary continues to save the adoption of such a decision and the other 26 member states are able to adopt such a ban, this option is possible and it is possible that we have adopted it. but i am sure that a large number of eu members are convinced that the european union can no longer import russian naftogaz and thus finance russian aggression against ukraine, that is why the

european commission has already published its proposals to end dependence on russian purchased fuel and especially on hydrocarbons, namely oil and gas, we are sure that this is the solution let's approve and i really hope that they will approve and that the sixth package will be approved, i really hope p mingerell why some leaders of the european union have started now talking about putin's appeasement, we believe that now everyone's greatest interest lies in the fastest ceasefire, but at the same time it is quite clear that it is the ukrainians who must decide on what conditions they will agree to a ceasefire, we are talking about the territorial integrity of ukraine and only the ukrainian people and the ukrainian political leadership should decide when and under what conditions they will agree to a cease-fire, then i think it is right to try to find better ways for

a cease-fire as soon as possible because tens of thousands ukrainians have already died. as you know, the civil infrastructure in ukraine has been destroyed. many roads , railways, ports have been destroyed . many houses have been destroyed. cease- fire regime as soon as possible. but i repeat once again, only the ukrainian people should decide on what conditions to pursue this, it should not be decided by the west. thank you, you understand, you worked with different institutions of the european union and you were the representative of the eu in ukraine in 2016-2019. you know the internal european cuisine very well. therefore, maybe you will tell me and

our viewers about when ukraine will be able to get the status of a candidate country for joining the european union . the commission will report its opinion on ukraine's request for candidate country status in june, in a few weeks in june, the opinion of the european commission will be given, but as we know, there is no unanimity in the european union on this issue, but all the political leaders of the eu have already very clearly said that ukraine is a part and member of the european family , there is no doubt about this. however, there is currently no consensus on how to best integrate ukraine into this european family, some

eu members, such as the baltic states and poland, clearly state that the status of a candidate country in the country must be granted immediately and that we must also immediately start negotiations on the inclusion of ukraine so that ukraine can join the european union as soon as possible other member states such as france, italy, germany believe that it will take 15 to 20 years to complete the negotiations on the accession of ukraine and the accession to the european union . for this, it will be very important to establish and create a new format, which the french president has already called a european political community, into which countries such as ukraine can integrate georgia and moldova, and every time the heads and governments of the eu states meet, for example, twice or three times a semester, the political leaders of ukraine, georgia and moldova could be invited to this meeting. could participate in them in order to

discuss political and security issues that are of interest to everyone and at the same time ensure that ukraine gradually adopts european laws and regulations in order to sometimes integrate a whole series of european regulations into its own system, we are now observing exactly such a situation, this issue will be discussed in brussels and in june, the next meeting of the european council will take place, i cannot say how these discussions will end, but i advise my ukrainian friends first as soon as possible implement the current association agreement why because the association act has conditions for a deep and full free trade zone, which means that ukraine can relatively quickly become a member of the single european market, and this means that according to the current association agreement, we can integrate the ukrainian economy into the economy of the european union, and this will be extremely important in order , firstly, to improve the living conditions of the ukrainian people

, and secondly, in this way, european businessmen could convince our political leaders to because ukraine needs to be integrated into the european union as soon as possible, this is the first opinion of a friend, i would advise my ukrainian friends to speed up the political and economic reforms of ukraine in order to use the incredible economic potential of your country, because if you introduce the necessary reforms, you will convince european leaders that ukraine will be a burden for of the european union and the advantage of ukraine is a country with a fantastic potential, if it is properly used, you will be able to convince the political and economic leaders of the eu that it it is they who are interested in integrating ukraine into the european union, because i repeat once again you are a fantastic country with fantastic potential, please do all this and do not pay too much attention to the split in the eu, the main thing is your

future fate if you are serious about introducing reforms to implement the agreement about the association, you will create objective conditions for ukraine to join the european union relatively quickly, mr. minvareli, i really hope that our government officials watch our interview will hear what you just said and what you proposed and it will help speed up the process i really hope so thank you so some european leaders at least that's what i've read they say it's time to abolish the unanimity article they say it can help faster make very important decisions in the european union. and you think that the eu can do this. it is quite clear that the principle of unanimity, which is used today, is a serious obstacle to the adoption of a whole series of

of laws i have already mentioned the policy regarding migrants and in denmark the commission put forward its proposal on the issue of migration two years ago. but we still cannot decide anything despite the fact that the management of migration and migration flows are today one of the main problems facing the european union and we cannot adopt such a policy due to the lack of unanimity, so i believe that we should think very seriously about the possibility that would allow the european union to move forward in certain sectors without such unanimity, if certain countries do not want to participate in certain things, they can simply be removed. by the way, this is exactly what we did with the schengen area, which allows the free movement of people within the european union, which member states did not want to participate in this, so they did not do the same was with the euro zone you know some countries have not accepted the euro as our

single common currency and so they continue to use their own currencies i am convinced that this is exactly what we should adopt we should decide that in case any member states do not want to deepen our european integration, they can simply be removed, they can participate in the eu single market, they can participate in some quarrels, but not in others, for example, this is how we should push our international and security policies, because these are exactly the sectors in which the european union should be really strong today we are faced with a whole series of autocratic regimes such as putin's regime and it is quite clear that the european union should be able to adopt a common security policy and security policy if for this we do not have 27 member countries, then we must make such a decision and reduce the number of member countries, what ukraine should

do in order to receive the necessary investments for the post-war reconstruction of the economy and destroyed infrastructure. i think that the leaders of the european union have already clearly stated that the eu will lead the process of rebuilding ukraine, it is obvious that in this process it is necessary for the ukrainian government to be the main one in this process, but in close cooperation with the main partners, and this is the european union member countries of the g7, international financial institutions, it will also be important to create an international coordination platform that will first of all assess damage from the destruction based on such assessments, it will be necessary to prepare a reconstruction plan , it is obvious that the ukrainian government should do this, but then this plan will have to be accepted by the main partners and the main sources of financing after that, it will be necessary to have close coordination during the

implementation of reconstruction projects we will need to agree on common rules and procedures ukrainian the government should create a very serious monitoring mechanism, it will monitor the implementation of reconstruction projects, and finally, the ukrainian government should also create an instrument that should ensure open reporting and sound financial management, since there will be hundreds of billions at stake, the ukrainian government should convince the sources of funding of international partners that it spends these funds in the best possible way, it must convince international partners to invest in the reconstruction of ukraine, all this can be done because we have already been involved in the reconstruction of the balkan countries, we took part in many post-conflict situations, we know what needs to be done, and i have no doubt that the political leadership of ukraine will take all necessary measures in order to very seriously implement this program, and we all

thank our european friends for that the necessary help we receive from them, mr. vingareli, how strong is the russian lobby among european politicians today, and is it possible to weaken its influence now, the russian lobby in western europe is extremely powerful and effective for this there are several reasons, firstly, the russian disinformation ecosystem is incredibly effective with tools such as russia's tudei satellite and social media, the putin regime is spreading lies and manipulating information in western european countries very, very many people in western europe do not understand the judges of the putin regime, they do not even know that there is no political position in russia at all, they do not know that the putin regime does not accept the sovereignty of its neighbors, such as belarus, ukraine, moldova

georgia, armenia, they do not know that in such countries as the central african republic and other small countries , putin's regime uses mercenaries, for example, from the wagner group, in order to commit atrocities . that many people in the western european political class are still convinced that the orange revolution of 2004 in ukraine was inspired mainly by the united states of america russian mass media information convinced a number of people in western european countries that when the maidan revolution and dignity began in ukraine in 2013, it happened mostly due to the intervention of western countries, many people still believe that after the collapse of the soviet union in 1991, nato and the european

union humiliated russia, all these narratives spread the russian disinformation ecosystem, and unfortunately we could not oppose anything in this ideological struggle. this is the first reason, the second is that russia simply bribed very many western political leaders in countries such as austria and there is france. you know that many leading countries are members of the supervisory boards of various russian companies. one example of which everyone knows is the former chancellor of germany, gerhard schroeder, but in austria, france and italy there are also many politicians who are in the same situation. they receive salaries from russian companies that are close to the kremlin and they actually spread and support russian influence in western european countries. we must remember, chief, there are many intellectuals in western europe who believe that russia, as a world actor, has the right to have its own sphere of influence

and that it is therefore quite acceptable for russia to limit the sovereignty of ukraine, georgia and moldova, although these people do not express such opinions openly, but saying the european union and the united states must take into account russian security interests, they say that we must understand the fact that 25 million ethnic russians live outside of russia, and that russia must take care of these people in ukraine, in georgia, in transnistria in the baltic countries in kazakhstan, they use history to explain that russia has the right to be interested in what is happening in ukraine, georgia and armenia. they are looking for different ways to justify russia's interference in the political life of their neighbors, therefore the european union together with the united states should to explain that this does not correspond to the basic principles of our security architecture, it is unacceptable to violate the territorial integrity of a sovereign state, and all these countries must respect the sovereign choice of independent

countries such as ukraine, this also applies to belarus , moldova, georgia. but for this, a lot will have to be done. because, as i already said, putin's regime is now much more effective than the western european countries. thank you very much, mr. mingarelli. for today, this was the last question . i thank the european union for all the help and support we received from them during the war with russia. thank you very much and thank you very much for inviting me to this discussion. kudos to ukraine kudos to the heroes . thank you. well, i will remind you that as usual every week until well-known people from europe join me on skype. well, i want to and ask them about what is currently being said in europe about the events of the war that russia started on february 24 of this year and how they are helping us

today . of the union in ukraine in 2016-2019 and he told us, showed, told us about the inner kitchen of the european union and what is happening there now. interested in our victory, when we will defeat the enemy, how to predict the course of the war, the saturday political club program returns to the espresso airwaves to help understand the events and predict the consequences that on saturdays vitaly portnikov and maria gurska will discuss the most relevant to draw appropriate conclusions, you want to know how what is happening today will affect our tomorrow see the saturday political club, that saturdays are not espresso, a

partial embargo, an oil embargo, is included in the 6th package of anti-russian sanctions introduced by the european union, a political decision was made in this regard the day before adopted by the leaders of the member states of the european union during the summit in brussels, the restrictions will apply to the supply of russian oil to the european union by sea, however, siren oil, which will be supplied by oil tankers, in particular through the territory of ukraine on autogon, friendship is temporarily not subject to these restrictions, commenting on such a decision in the eu, they emphasized that the member states of the european community will immediately refuse supplies of russian oil by 75%, and by the end of the year by all 90%, and this should hurt the economy of the aggressor country. well, it will hurt 100%. agreeing on new anti-russian sanctions

of the european union will be much more difficult than now prime minister of estonia kayakalas made such a statement today before the start of the second day of the european union leaders, she added that it is about a possible embargo on the import of russian gas, the head of the estonian government emphasized that gas should be in the seventh package of sanctions, but what follows is her quote, i am a realist and do not think that it will be the end of the quote. well, in her opinion, they are, in her opinion, the previous sanctions hurt they hit only russia, unfortunately all the new restrictions will also affect europeans . well, that is why mrs. kalash believes that it is the seventh package of anti-russian sanctions that will be adopted by the europeans. it is much more difficult . the chancellor of austria karl nehammer maintains that the

embargo on russian gas will definitely not be in it - he says - not hamer, according to the head of the austrian government, with the ban on the supply of russian blue fuel to the eu will be much more difficult, because it is more difficult for some eu member states to refuse russian gas than the supply of oil, so the embargo on it will not be discussed as part of the next package, although it seems to me that it will still be discussed, but some consensus will be found. as panikalas says about e the words of which are indicated a little earlier it will be difficult to find, but the prime minister of belgium generally called on the european union to pause in the introduction of anti-russian sanctions, alexander de crowe - said today, after the results of the first day of the summit of the eu member states, he believes that now it is necessary for the sixth package to work, after that it is necessary to assess the consequences of all previous

restrictions and only then think about whether to introduce the seventh, although the head of the belgian government is also convinced that the decision to introduce embargo on russian gas it will be even more difficult to agree and then implement it, but we are all waiting for them to first discuss the introduction of this seventh package, and then we really hope that they will implement it, but before that we still have some time to go, the japanese authorities welcome the agreement reached by the european union on the partial ban on the import of russian oil, the secretary general of the cabinet of ministers of the country of the rising sun, hirokazu matsuna, said about this, according to him, it is very important to demonstrate to the world that hostilities on the territory of ukraine will cost russia very dearly. added that for ukraine and for the aggressor country, oil export is an important source of foreign exchange and therefore

it had to be stopped, i will remind you that earlier japan introduced several packages of anti-russian sanctions, but turkey will not introduce sanctions against russia, but it also does not intend to help other countries to circumvent them, the minister of foreign affairs of the republic of turkey, vlyud çavuşoğlu, said today, according to his official statement, ankara fundamentally opposes any form of sanctions. the country's government joins only those restrictions that are introduced at the level of the united nations organization, while the minister emphasized that the consequences of the already introduced anti-russian sanctions are felt even in his country. well, you can only imagine how strongly it is already beginning to be felt in

russia itself and will be felt even more. on the second day of the special meeting of the european council, he stated that the eu had made certain conclusions due to russian aggression in ukraine, namely, regarding the need to eliminate shortcomings in its own the security and defense system, as well as closer coordination, in addition, mr. borel emphasized that the european union should increase military spending and do everything necessary in a coordinated manner. apparently, the eu remembered the good old folk wisdom, prepare, feed your army, if you don't want to feed someone else's, russia must lose the war it started in ukraine, ukraine must win and the leaders of the european union cannot repeat the mistakes of the past and try to achieve peace at any cost, the prime minister of latvia artur zkrisena skarizh said in an interview with the publication politics, according to him, the concept, the concept, peace at any price will indicate that putin

is winning, because the war can turn into a frozen conflict, moscow will eventually continue to build up its military power and later again may dare to attack ukraine, moldova, georgia or any other country ukraine should implement the current association agreement with the european union as soon as possible, because in this way, the ukrainian economy can be more quickly integrated into the european economy and significantly closer to the accession of ukraine to the of the european union, this opinion was expressed in an interview on our channel by the former ambassador of the european union in our country from 2016 to 2019. the years of hugh-mingereli, but let's listen to p mingoreli in direct language to his ukrainian friends to speed up political and economic reforms in ukraine in order

to use the incredible economic potential of your country, because if you introduce the necessary reforms, you will convince the european leaders that ukraine will not be a burden for the european union, but an advantage, ukraine is a country with a fantastic potential, if you use it properly, you will be able to convince the political and economic leaders of the eu that it is they who are interested in integrating ukraine into the european union. 15:15 well, you can obviously watch it on social networks as well as on the espresso channel page on youtube, and maybe he just got tired of lying, the belarusians took part in the war in ukraine, the self-proclaimed president oleksandr lukashenko today awarded kdb employees who took part in, as he

called it in russian, special operations in ukraine. this was reported by telegram channel pol perego, however, what exactly did the belarusians do in ukraine? the self-proclaimed said that belarus is under intense pressure from the west and that minsk is doing everything possible to stand up and continue to listen to the quote of the once successful head of the collective farm look at ukraine, we understand what is happening there the scenario is not realized on our land when i ask a question what would it be with us please look at it and we understand the level of activity that has just shifted to the territory of a neighboring country well, in conclusion, belarus, not white russia, from now on norway will officially

call our northern neighbor just like it is called by the belarusians themselves, earlier the name was literally translated into norwegian and it sounded exactly like white russia, the minister of foreign affairs of norway, ani ken gitfeld, said that this was done as a sign of solidarity with the belarusian democratic movement in order the country was not perceived as an extension of russia, earlier the same decision was made by other scandinavian countries, sweden and denmark in 2019 and 2021, respectively. well, such a decision is only to be welcomed. well, for today, i have everything in the world about ukraine column, i am starting to prepare for tomorrow day to tell you more tomorrow, don't switch now, because our broadcast continues