The president of the republic announced this Wednesday that he intends to hand over the Grand Collar of the Order of Freedom to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, and reiterated his desire to travel to Kiev “as soon as possible”.
“I intend to deliver [a condecoração] personally when you go to Ukraine. This is what I have done with the Heads of State and with others who have been decorated with this order and other orders: it is, as far as possible, at the first opportunity to hand them over”said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The head of state spoke to journalists in Picadeiro Real, in Lisbon, shortly after receiving the Joint Operational Force (FOCON), which was on mission in Turkey.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa emphasized that when he decided to award former German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the Grand Collar of the Order of Infante D. Henrique, he also awarded this award “some time later”.
“Chancellor Merkel – for reasons of German political life and later her personal life – could not travel to Portugal and I did not have the opportunity to go to Germany. She received some time later. The same will happen with President Zelensky”, he said .
When asked if it makes sense for Portugal to be officially represented in Ukraine in the near future, either through the Prime Minister or the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied: “I don’t know, I have spoken with the Prime Minister to determine exactly know what he’s thinking?”
“I keep planning [ir à Ucrânia]as soon as possible and we will finally have a new Ukrainian ambassador to Portugal,” he underlined.
Marcelo recalled that Portugal spent “many months” without a Ukrainian ambassador to Portugal, highlighting that the former diplomat, Inna Ohnivets, “was replaced, she remained for a while, but deep down in a transitional position”.
“There comes one [nova] ambassador and therefore this will make it possible to plan a visit by me to Ukraine at the time Ukraine deems it necessary,” he said.
Last Wednesday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced in a note on the presidency’s website the award of the President of Ukraine, admitting that he anticipated the announcement following a “parliamentary initiative on the matter”.
“The President of the Republic planned to announce the award of President Zelensky on the 24th of this month, the date of completion of a year of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Taking into account the parliamentary initiative in this matter, that he has decided to award the President of Ukraine the Grand Collar of the Order of Liberty,” the note read.
According to the day’s Público edition, the PAN intended to mark the first year of the war with a proposal to award Zelensky, prompting the Portuguese head of state to anticipate the announcement.
Marcelo predicts “decisive period” until autumn
The president of the republic expected the coming months to be “a decisive period” for the war in Ukraine, with the two players aiming to reach autumn in a strong position.
In a conversation with journalists in the Picadeiro Real, in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was asked shortly after receiving the Joint Operational Force (FOCON) on mission in Turkey about the first year of war in Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022 .
The head of state expects that the coming weeks will be a “decisive period” in the conflict, as “the thaw begins again”, which will allow “classic battles on the ground, namely with tanks”.
“What will happen is whether Ukraine succeeds – as it will try by all means – to regain what it lost after the invasion a year ago, and whether the Russian Federation succeeds in preserving what it has gained over the past year. busy,” predicted .
The president of the republic stressed that the next few months will be “decisive”, emphasizing that both Russia and Ukraine want to arrive at this time, at the end of summer, autumn, to “measure and assess positions on the ground”. see if it is either stronger or weaker” and to understand “what is the scope it has for a longer war or if it is already able to start a path to peace”.
“At the moment everything will be played out in the coming months,” he stressed.
When asked if he expects at least another six months of war, the head of state replied: “No doubt it will be long months and they will be very important months, because both have a lot to gain and a lot to lose.”
“Ukraine will be strongly supported by NATO, the United States and Europe and the Russian Federation, in principle, is trying to support at least the People’s Republic of China,” he predicted.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also said this week has had “very intense days” with the “historic visit” of United States President Joe Biden to Kiev and with the “state of the nation speech” of the leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
According to the analysis of the president of the republic, everyone “used their strong arguments”, with Biden emphasizing that he will be on the side of Ukraine “as long as necessary” and Putin adopting the “possible attitude that he had, which is to distance Russia’s withdrawal from the nuclear arms control treaty”.
“Doesn’t mean that [Putin] using nuclear weapons was an argument he had on hand to show his reaction to the strong position of the North American president,” he reflected.
Regarding Portugal’s attitude to the conflict, Marcelo recalled that the country had decided to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, will participate in the training of Ukrainian soldiers and “supply more ammunition”.
“Portugal is doing what it can offer and what it can offer in the context of NATO. Now NATO, as you know, avoids intervening in the area of operations,” recalled Marcelo.
Source: DN
