Joint press conference of Prime Minister Edi Rama and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Thank you very much to everyone and above all to all those among you who have come here to Tirana today from our region.
It is a very special moment for us here in Albania, not simply because we are privileged to welcome the Ukrianian head of state, but we are also honored to welcome a leader of a resistance, which is not only a resistance tackling a brutal aggression against their homeland, but at the same time stands for democracy against the neo-imperialist dream they seek to build.
Your Excellency, Mr. President, dear friend, I am very pleased that today we had the opportunity to emphasize our position not only as a country, but as a community of countries and nations that share the same position in Southeast Europe, that stand with Ukraine, stand alongside its right to its territorial integrity, to its freedom of choice, to its democracy.
As far as Albania is concerned, we have made it very clear and I am quite proud to say that it is not only the government, it is not only the Parliament, it is not only the institutions, but above all it is the whole nation, all the people of our country who stand by Ukraine and supports Ukraine steadfastly. We will continue to stand by Ukraine and support it for as long as necessary and as long as lasting peace is achieved. Of course, Albania is a proud and small member of NATO and together with all our NATO allies, and also together with all our partners from Washington to Brussels, we condemned the aggression and did everything we could, and we will continue to do everything we can to help Ukraine by all means.
At the same time, however, we are aware of our capacities and we are quite conscious that what Ukraine needs is of course the support and help of everyone, but first of all the help and support of the great and the richest in our community.
We see with concern that this support sometimes stalls because Ukraine turns into a matter of internal politics of one country or another, or because very long bureaucratic delays occur. But while democracies have their own procedures and democracies are more difficult and complex to work and bring results, on the other hand, we have an aggressor, who does not stop for even a second to strike in his attempt to annex more territory, ruthlessly taking innocent lives and continuing to destroy Ukraine and make it very difficult for families, for women, for children to live a normal life.
Of course we hear with a very disturbed feeling that many people all over Europe say that helping, supporting Ukraine, giving her the means to defend its nation encourages the continuation of the war .
They claim that stopping the supply of arms to Ukraine will bring peace. This is not only cynical, but also absurd. Because one does not stop the war by disarming the victim, it stops the war by stopping the aggressor.
That is why I want to take this opportunity to tell everyone who wants to listen that Ukraine deserves to be supported and helped with all the necessary means to resist and to ensure that a just peace will come after this war. A just peace that rests primarily on the principles of President Zelenskiy’s 10-point plan, which we support, and we want to see deeply discussed in a serious manner by all nations and their community.
At this summit I am pleased that we had the opportunity to raise all our arguments and I am also very, very pleased that we had the opportunity to hold our bilateral meeting and talk about Albania and Ukraine, for today and tomorrow.
One of the most important things that should come out of this nightmare is that our friendship is forged through fire and for generations. Ukrainians and Albanians will feel much closer than they would under normal circumstances. And there is something more that connects us now; it’s one of those things that in my eyes proves how much Vladimir Putin has failed with his plan because instead of being held hostage and ruled by renegades, Ukraine is negotiating with the EU and has become part of this group of countries from the Western Balkans, which are all together on a journey to join the EU.
I have nothing but admiration for President Zelenskyy and for the people of Ukraine who are impressively doing these two things together. On the one hand, they are fighting against a merciless aggressor, and on the other hand, they are working to reform, they are working to move forward in the process of integration into the European Union.
Just before we came in here, I got a message from someone who is working with Ukrainian institutions to set up a high-tech fund. She wrote to me: “Please tell the President that our entire team, which is a Western team, is absolutely impressed by the Ukrainians we have met, by their skills, by their will, and by their extraordinary talent to build together this high-tech fund”.
So beyond the ruins of Russian missiles, beyond the wounds of Ukrainian soldiers, beyond death and destruction, there lies a country that is thinking and working every day for the future. So we couldn’t be more privileged and proud to be friends with this nation.
Mr. President, I know that in all this time, among the many things you have to do, you have to listen to many speeches, you have to hear many beautiful words, but I want you to trust me completely that everything you have heard by me and by us, comes from the heart and what makes us even more ready to say these words is how much the Albanian people, the ordinary citizens of this country support you and how much they want Ukraine to not lose this war, but triumph instead.
I am glad you kept your promise. It was a promise you gave me when there was peace, before the war, that you would come to Albania. I want to guarantee you that now and forever, Albania is one of your homes, it is one of the places where every one of your fellow citizens can feel at home. We look forward to strengthening our cooperation, we look forward to identifying and working together on cooperation opportunities. We look forward to the opportunity to be with you and the people of Ukraine on the day when thanks to all these joint efforts, but first of all thanks to your effort, Ukraine will breathe freely and enjoy peace.
Thank you very much and the word is for you.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Honorable! Dear Prime Minister! First and foremost, I would like to thank you Edi, the Prime Minister of Albania, your people, all the citizens of Albania for the sincere and complete support you have given us, our country, Ukraine, our people and all the support that you also give to justice in Europe. In fact, the support that we have received in such a turbulent time. I would like to thank you for the political cooperation and of course the fact that you have understood that every nation needs to be respected, it needs its own security.
And also that these are those elements, principles, which in fact properly define every good thing that a nation can offer.
Dear friends!
Today, the second Summit between Ukraine and Southeast Europe took place, and I am grateful to Albania for organizing the Summit and for its significant work. Statements were made, while important bilateral meetings were held and will continue to be held. I thank each leader for their participation.
We have announced a joint statement of the Summit, which clearly identifies the existing threats not only to Ukraine, but to all nations. Russian aggression against our country is an attempt to destroy, not only our independence, but also the entire international order, where every nation enjoys the right to live freely and deserves respect. Putin respects no one and does not want to let anyone live free. This is the essence of his struggle and this is why, if he is not stopped now, he will expand his aggression. Ukraine stresses that all of us in Europe must be ready to defend our sovereignty, national dignity and the way of life of our peoples. All are now under threat – Russia has a significant arsenal of destabilizing tools. From direct aggression to hybrid attacks through special political operations to provoke disruption in other societies, through disinformation, through economic pressure, through the spread of corruption and the use of energy resources as political weapons. Together we must stop Russia from destroying our lives.
We need more faith in what we can do. You must have faith in us, in the stability that we will actually be able to offer to Europe, the community, but also the common values of the Euro-Atlantic community and our full integration into the EU. We naturally support the integration of the Western Balkan countries into the EU, but you should also support us.
Ukraine, as well as the entire region of Southeast Europe, must continue to work together to move forward, and participate in the Global Peace Summit. Support us in our peace formula, the 10-point plan. The war was fought by a single person, but the work for peace is a work that we should do together. You must help us. Thank you for your attention, thank you for your support and also allow me to thank for this summit Mr. Prime Minister Edi Rama. Glory to Ukraine!
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– President Zelenskyy welcome to Tirana! What advice would you give to the leaders of the Western Balkans, but also to the European leaders, so that what is happening today in Ukraine does not spread to other countries of the globe? As for you, Mr. Rama, is the stability of the Western Balkans at risk from Russia?
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Thank you for your question! I don’t know if the translation from your language was correct, but in terms of advice, the fact that we are here today at the same table, we all together of course have historical examples of different relationships and I think it is a very important opportunity that we have, uniting together, as a way to protect ourselves, it is a path towards peace, it is a path that absolutely does not lead to war and therefore this is also the advice, because I think that what is happening now is the right example.
Today’s summit is about unity and I think that the Balkan countries should stand together. I think that Russia will do everything to destabilize the situation. In fact, it has not swallowed the situation with Ukraine and it has not succeeded there, and in fact I am very grateful to your countries, partners in the world, all those who have helped Ukraine to become strong.
Today, we should not pause, but strengthen Ukraine because Russia will not stop, and moreover, we have discussed this with Mr. Prime Minister. Russia comes to conclusions about the mistakes it has made in the territory of Ukraine and therefore will destabilize further if the opportunity arises. Putin will use other tactics, he will try to exert influence in those places where he can get immediate success, which are small places. Thus, I believe that the Baltic countries are under threats, such as Moldova, the Balkan countries, wherever the Soviet Union was present.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: I was quite privileged to have spoken and discussed with the president exactly about this matter. I’m going to show you what to me is the clearest, shortest and most accurate answer to where the world can go if we follow Vladimir Putin’s logic of justifying a war through the past, this is the Mongolian empire, and Russia was within it. Whoever published this came after Putin’s interview, but I guarantee you Mongolians are peaceful people. Now imagine if everyone in this region started to think about seeing international relations based on maps, it would be a war that would never end. What worries me the most is that not everyone understands today that Vladimir Putin attacking Ukraine is not only about Ukraine, it is an attack against the world order based on rules, it is an attack against the community of democratic countries. It is a challenge, the most open, the most ruthless challenge to the very existence of the EU, not because Russia is going to invade Germany, but because if this logic of starting a war based on past glories and old stories of prevails, we will no longer live in the world we know, but we will live in a world where the most powerful will decide and where rights will be undermined.
There are many lessons that we can learn from our history in the Balkans, but what is happening today in Ukraine is another lesson that tells us that we should never fall prey to the relativism of this conflict, not to fall prey to the relativization of the two sides because it is very clear to us, there is an aggressor and there is a victim. Everything else is dangerously misleading. When it comes to us in the Western Balkans, and we shared some thoughts together, we are certainly not a region without problems. On the contrary, we live in fertile ground where a lot of blood has been shed precisely because of the war against each other, but at the same time we must continue to work together in such a way that we cooperate for what is of common interest, about what is ours and then to discuss, debate and exchange, but in a peaceful way, things on which we do not agree. Then we need to strengthen our institutions, we need to strengthen our democracy, our economy, and the more power we gain in this direction, the less we will be in danger because of what is still unresolved. This is very clear!
One more time; yes, there is a clear and real danger to the Western Balkans due to Russian aggression, but no one should see it as a situation where the Russian army comes here, but everyone should see as a fact that what is happening there can be repeated in different ways, calling into question the very foundations of our world order based on rules that is not actually a world where who is bigger, who is stronger, whoever has more soldiers can go and conquer the one who is smaller, who is weaker and who has less army. This logic belongs to the Middle Ages!
We sincerely hope that we can continue to move forward together, continue to work together. In the end, I would like to say that I see Ukraine, the connection with this community of countries that aspire to enter the European Union as an added value because Ukraine comes to this connection with many wounds that are still open and with a painful experience that it will be of great value to us because it will always remind us that war is not something we see on TV and then get lost between Netflix and reports from Ukraine. The war is as close as here, it is as close as we are and however impossible it seems today that it can happen, it can ineed happen. So, we cannot play with fire and we must maintain a clear attitude and opinion in relation to Ukraine that it is not only about Ukraine, it is about us. If we lose this clarity, we risk entering a phase of darkness.
– Mr. President, a suggestion came from President Macron that it could be an option to have troops from Western countries in Ukraine, despite the fact that four European countries came out against this statement. Are there discussions going on within the allies regarding this issue and what is the response of the allied countries in the West. And what is the situation regarding armaments at this moment. Mr. President, just to make our lives easier, maybe it would be best if you could speak English if possible and I’m sorry, but also a question for the Prime Minister of Albania.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: This is how journalists want an easier life.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine: Okay then I will answer in English. Next time you will have to prepare better so that I can speak in my mother tongue.
– Honorable Prime Minister, Albania is a small country in the region, on the continent in NATO, so what is the contribution that Tirana is giving to this war, which we do not want at all, and what does Albania get in its journey towards Euro-Atlantic integration?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: When you say what does it mean? Ah got it, got it, what do you get in this bazaar you mean.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine: Thank you for your question. First, I had a very good meeting with President Macron, and it was a meeting with many initiatives. Really not one initiative, or two initiatives, but many of them and I will talk about all of them. For example, the coalition for artillery, the one with the USA but also with other partners, so very concrete things.
We have to survive, and to survive for Ukraine means for us to have concrete aid, and this is very important, so I cannot share with you, for example, the figure for artillery or other armaments that we may have. So we need to we survive. What does this mean? This means that everything we have decided, everything, every kind of help must reach us in time.
This is the best initiative of all to bring the armaments on time. If you can. We talked a lot about intelligence issues, about drones, co-production, technical things.
As for the other question you asked me. I was not at the Summit and he told me that some other, new ideas were discussed on how to strengthen Ukraine and he said that he will share these ideas with me when he returns to Ukraine.
I think he told me officially that he will come to Ukraine in the middle of this month or next month. In March then. It will be back in mid-March. From the 24th of February all days are the same and it’s a single day for us so I’m sorry I don’t remember today’s date and I think he will share these ideas with me when we meet and then I can to answer your question because I will know his plan in detail.
But the most important thing to understand is that when we share with each other initiatives, initiatives from the most separable, all these are, so to speak, the second step, the fourth step. But the first step is defense, so that we are strong at the front. This is important because now we have some questions about these packages with our partners, European partners and the US, and of course we thank the US for the leadership they have shown, but also for European partners, and for other European partners, such as the Kingdom United, but today it is important for us to continue to stay strong because we have neither time nor alternatives.
So it is really a great danger that threatens our life and I would never want the opposite to happen, but I believe that we all have to prepare to be strong. Preparing for war or peace is not so important, but it is important to prepare for other steps that Putin will take. If we don’t, or if we want him to fail, then we must prepare for him to back down. We must prepare for war at night, with weapons during the day, and of course, the Prime Minister said that war has no distance. Is it at dawn or in the middle of the night, in the middle of the night because you feel like you are being fought in the middle of the night. So you have to be prepared in case they throw missiles at you. We want to be strong and we will defeat Putin.
This is our initiative, this is the initiative we have and if there are initiatives, not only in Europe, but in the whole world that empower Ukraine, then they are good for the whole world. Thank you!
Prime Minister Edi Rama: To answer the question, first of all, we have also supported Ukraine with support packages, which are not loans and are not part of any business. We have never asked Ukraine to pay back what you have taken from us. Modest? Of course, these are our options, but without a doubt we have done and will do everything we can. Yes, we are absolutely aware that for that war front, this is very small. Why do I say this?
Because we are doing it for ourselves, just like that. For ourselves. This is not an existential threat to Ukraine alone, this is a threat to everything we think our future should be, and this is not simply rhetoric.
If we want a future in the EU, we want the EU. We do not want to see the EU disintegrate after entering there, we do not to enter into an endless corrosive internal war about what kind of rules or what kind of values or what kind of actions are justified or not justified.
There have been many sanctions against Russia, but of course we know that dependence on Russian gas, dependence on Russian oil is not that simple. Rising prices, rising costs of living in richer countries are part of the plan to get public opinion to say, “Hey, we can’t continue to support Ukraine. Now we need this other one”.
The problem actually is that if you take something from a poor person, it’s not like it’s going to make them change their mind, but if you take something from a rich person, the rich person can go crazy, they can lose their mind, so the account is very clear and for us this is the key.
We are seeking to join the EU, but at the same time we are seeking to make peace, to have full cooperation with this region which is at the heart of the EU.
The Western Balkans is the only reality, unlike Ukraine that is surrounded by the borders of the EU, and the European Union is the only reality in history that has two borders, one external and one internal. We are inside the EU physically and we are outside the EU politically, so we want to be fully integrated into this body because we must not see this organism explode because if this is the case, we will be left without a future. It is very clear. The European Union is not heaven. On the contrary. But there’s no doubt it’s one hell of a joy. It’s not bloody hell. And this is where we want to be. So, what more could we ask for? This is the most essential thing that we need to understand and stand by Ukraine, not to think about what we can gain, but what we can contribute more with. This is not simply rhetoric. You have seen in the region time and time again how the Russian influence has sown instability in one country or another and if we continue to remain united, it is thanks to the common aspiration to be part of the EU, but if this aspiration fades because the EU loses its direction, loses its integrity, then it will be easier to seek caviar, champagne and blood, instead of reforms, democracy and human rights.
That’s all, it’s that simple.
Thank you very much!
