Norway’s ambassador to Russia, Robert Kvile, will be present during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.
These boycotts
– Norway’s relationship with Russia is strongly influenced by Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia is on the wrong side of history, says State Secretary Eivind Vad Peterson in a statement to Nettavisen.
Putin begins his fifth term as Russia’s president on Tuesday. He will lead the country for six more years, while the invasion of Ukraine continues.
It is not known how many countries’ ambassadors will show up in the Kremlin to mark the re-election.
However, it is known that countries such as Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania do not participate.
– Downright embarrassing
Liberal leader Guri Melby is very critical of Norway participating in the inauguration ceremony of an authoritarian president.
– I think it is downright embarrassing that Norway chooses to legitimize Putin’s ceremony by sending our ambassador. It sends completely wrong signals and legitimizes a presidential election that was not real, says Melby to Nettavisen.
– We are talking about an authoritarian president who has gone to war against his neighboring country, and threatens several others with the same. Someone who imprisons political competitors and suppresses freedom of expression, says Melby.
– Venstre believes that it is not a person or a regime that we should show our support for by participating in such a ceremony, she says.
American authorities referred to the presidential election in Russia as “an incredibly undemocratic process”. The independent group Golos labeled the presidential election as “the most fraudulent and corrupt in the country’s history”.
– That is why Norway is represented
Norway has therefore chosen to participate. The Foreign Ministry says the reason is that they believe it is in Norway’s interest to maintain diplomatic channels with Russia.
– Nevertheless, it is in Norway’s interest to maintain diplomatic channels with our neighboring country, not least in challenging times, in order to be able to deal with important questions about safety at sea, fisheries cooperation and border management, says Peterson.
– That is why Norway is represented by our ambassador at the presidential inauguration, he says.
– We cannot get away from this
Director at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Iver B. Neumann, is not surprised that Norway chooses to participate in the ceremony.
– This is one in a series of trade-offs about how Norway should balance its relations with Russia. On the one hand, Norway will distance itself from Russia’s aggressive warfare in Ukraine. On the other hand, Norway will maintain a reasonable relationship with the neighboring country, says Neumann to Nettavisen.
– We cannot get away from this. There will always be a trade-off, he says.
Neumann has researched diplomacy for a number of years and is a former professor of Russian studies at the University of Oslo. He points out that it is also important to maintain some form of communication channel between Russia and the West.
– The West must have some points where they talk to Russia. At the end of the Cold War, the United States and the then Soviet Union held disarmament talks. Then it was ensured that they also talked about other things together, says Neumann.
– But now Trump and Putin have built all that down, so there must be some places where people still meet and talk together, he says.
Neumann is referring to, among other things, the nuclear disarmament treaty INF, which was concluded between the United States and Russia during the Cold War. The INF prohibits US and Russian deployment of land-based, nuclear-powered intermediate-range missiles. Both the US and Russia withdrew from this nuclear agreement in 2018.
Reacts strongly
KrF’s deputy chairman and foreign policy spokesperson, Dag-Inge Ulstein, reacts strongly to the fact that Norway’s ambassador will be present during the ceremony that installs Putin for a new term as president.
– When the government sends the Norwegian ambassador to Putin’s inauguration ceremony, this will unfortunately help legitimize an election that is not at all legitimate, free or fair. What we do know, in any case, is that Russia’s propaganda apparatus will use this for all it’s worth, writes Ulstein to Nettavisen.
And adds:
– When leading opposition politicians are killed, elections are held in occupied Ukrainian areas and Putin “obtains” 87 percent of the vote, it is very unwise for Norway to give legitimacy to the inauguration.
Ulstein believes that the signal this sends to Ukraine and the Baltic countries is also completely wrong.
– I wonder if the government was honest about this in the conversation with the President of Moldova, who was on a state visit yesterday.