Visibility, refraining from the use of army force, and adherence in order to both the letter and the spirit of the OSCE commitments and principles and the Vienna Document 2011 is paramount. We, the Nordic Ministers of Protection, follow the recent developments around Ukraine with great problem. Recent Russian military activity, especially the exceptional military build-up along Ukraine’s borders, is a worrying development, which might have a destabilising effect on the shared security environment. We continue to follow the situation in and around Ukraine carefully. In 2019 the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) set up a Crisis Consultation Mechanism, assisting rapid consultations on any urgent matter of typical concern. We recently a new Ministerial consultation to discuss the present situation close to Ukraine’s edge, and we will continue to keep close contact. The Nordic countries continue their firm support to Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and directly to decide its own foreign and security policy course free from outside interference. We reject the notion of spheres of influence in Europe.
The Minsk agreements and political dialogue remain the basis for solving the particular conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Nordic Ministers of Protection, including Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, Minister for International Affairs and International Advancement Cooperation of Iceland, issued the following statement on 21 December 2021: