Norwegian authorities, following Finland, "do not rule out" sending troops to Ukraine

The Norwegian authorities do not rule out that in the long term the country may send its troops to the war in Ukraine, said Foreign Minister  Barth Eide.

"We have no plans to send troops at the moment. I don't think many countries have such plans. But on the other hand, in the very long term, I don't think we should rule anything out in principle," Eide said in an interview with European Pravda.

He also noted that today, when Western countries talk about sending troops to Ukraine, they mean sending instructors and advisers to train the Ukrainian military, not combat units for direct confrontation with Russia.

Eide stressed that NATO countries want to support Ukraine, but do not want to be a direct party to the conflict, as this could lead to a world war.

Prior to that, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen also suggested that Helsinki could send troops to Ukraine in the future. However, she stressed that now is "not the time" for this. In this way, Valtonen supported French President Emmanuel Macron, who was the first to speak of such a possibility.

According to the Finnish foreign minister, Macron did the right thing by making Russia wonder what Ukraine's allies are willing to do.

"Why should we, especially not knowing where this war will lead and what will happen in the future, reveal all our cards?" – the minister added.

Macron mentioned the possibility of sending a Western military contingent to Ukraine in late February. During a meeting with the heads of French parties, the president said that such a scenario would be likely if Russia broke through the front towards Odesa or Kyiv.

He also said that he "has no limits or red lines" in supporting Ukraine.

Background. In a conversation with the leaders of the United States and Germany, Macron said that if Russia attacks French troops in Ukraine, the United States and NATO would not need to intervene.