Estonian PM: EU debate on calling Putin was "very heated"

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has said that a meeting of Europe's leaders in Brussels on June 1 included a "very heated" debate on the issue of calling Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The June 1 European Council meeting also saw the unveiling of the sixth package of sanctions aimed at the Russian Federation which, while putting in place an embargo of sorts on Russian oil imports (Hungary excepted), has made no progress on doing the same with natural gas, whose exports may continue for years to come, ERR reports, quoting Kallas (Reform), who also attended the meeting.

Regarding the approach to Ukraine from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, Kallas said: "We had a very heated debate on calling Putin."

"Also on what argument was presented – namely that it should be demonstrated, that you can see that while we have good intentions, Putin does not want to take any steps," the prime minister continued.

"I was also able to put across my views on what the so-called benefits of doing this had been so far. However, Scholz and Macron say they are calling on [Ukrainian leader Volodomyr] Zelenskyy, as Putin is not speaking to Ukraine. Plus I understand that Zelenskyy would ask them to be a mediator," she added.

Kallas also told EU policy media portal Euraktiv that one of the main opponents of any embargo, Hungary's Victor Orban, had proved constructive on the day.

"He has one image in the media and another picture in these discussions. We looked for a solution to his concerns. He described his concerns and a solution was finally found, with this solution mainly concerned an import derogation (delaying the implementation of an EU regulation - ed.) for Hungary, and also for Slovakia and the Czech Republic, while they put in place adequate refinery facilities in their own countries," Kallas noted.