For example, the cabinet has promised to send anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine and to allocate money for refugee aid. The European Union has also imposed strict sanctions on Russia. Funds of the Russian Central Bank have been frozen and a number of other banks no longer have access to the international payment system SWIFT. In response, the Russian president threatened with nuclear weapons. Ministers Hoekstra and Sigrid Kaag (Finance) condemned his rhetoric.
Prior to the debate, Rutte will make a statement on behalf of the cabinet “about where we stand and how we are going to move forward, together with our international partners,” Rutte said on Twitter on Sunday. Earlier Sunday, he wrote that “the entire free and democratic world is united more than ever in support of Ukraine.”
Sanctions
Several parties believe that sanctions against Russia should be even stricter. According to D66, the “Russian war machine” can be paralyzed in this way. VVD MP Ruben Brekelmans also wants equally strict sanctions against Belarus. That country is helping Russia with the invasion, including by offering free access to Russian troops. The PvdA and GroenLinks, among others, are advocating good reception for Ukrainian refugees.
Not all parties take support for Ukraine for granted. The PVV, among others, criticizes that the Dutch are deteriorating because of the sanctions against Russia. The penalty package is likely to further increase the already high energy prices. Rutte said on Friday that “a huge blow” on purchasing power is imminent in the short term. Kaag warned last week that the purchasing power problems cannot be solved quickly.
Forum for Democracy frontman Thierry Baudet said in a video on Twitter on Thursday that the west had caused the war in Ukraine. This video and the sharing of other pro-Russian messages led to a lot of criticism: D66 MP Sjoerd Sjoerdsma called him a “Putin parrot” and Baudet’s party colleague Theo Hiddema also rejected him. “What explains the pathological bigotry within FvD with the strong man?” the FVD senator wondered in De Telegraaf.