Smaller countries need reassurance amid Russia’s war, says Germany’s foreign minister

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock promised the international community would help stop the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine from destabilising other countries.

Speaking from Bali, the Indonesian island where foreign ministers of the G20 group of large industrial and emerging nations are meeting, she said that if countries were allowed to invade their neighbours, no small country wuold feel safe.

“It’s not just a question for us, as Europeans, about how to deal with the brutal war in Ukraine, but it is also about defending international rights, the protection of smaller, medium-sized countries,” she told reporters.

“Small nations are watching very closely to see whether the international community will accept a stronger, more powerful countryu taking over its neighbour,” she said. “If we allow that then no small country will be able to sleep peacefully.”

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt, Writing by Miranda Murray)