‘Ukraine being used by the US and Nato to undermine Russia’ — Mick Wallace

Mr Wallace said he had been targeted by "sinister" vandals who placed Nazi stickers on his and his colleague Clare Daly's offices

'They gave Ukraine all the guns they want to prolong this war but it’s Ukrainians that are dying,' Mr Wallace said.

Irish MEP Mick Wallace has said he believes Ukraine is being “used by the US and Nato to undermine Russia”, and that Europe can’t afford to see Russia destroyed.

Speaking on South East Radio on Wednesday morning, the Wexford politician said “the Americans and Nato have made it clear they’re prepared to fight Russia, to undermine Russia, down to the last Ukrainian”.

“They gave Ukraine all the guns they want to prolong this war but it’s Ukrainians that are dying,” Mr Wallace said, adding that “pouring more arms into the Ukraine isn't going to help matters”.

In recent weeks, Mr Wallace, was targeted by “sinister” vandals who placed Nazi stickers on his and colleague Clare Daly’s offices after voting against a motion condemning Russian aggression.

The two Independents 4 Change members were among 13 MEPs to vote against the European Parliament resolution, which also argued in favour of the speeding up of Ukraine’s candidacy for EU membership.

Mr Wallace revealed on air on Wednesday morning that he was informed by a commissioner “that the sanctions are unlikely to make Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine”.

“The argument was made to me that what we're doing is that we're trying to weaken the Russian economy, trying to stop the flow of money into Russia,” Mr Wallace said.

But in actual fact, we're not stopping the flow of money. We're still buying their gas, we're giving them billions every week.” 

He then went on to question: “Do we want a huge power like Russia with huge nuclear arsenal destroyed? Do we want a completely dysfunctional state falling apart and having nuclear weapons?

“You’d get killed for saying it — but Europe needs a different security structure, and Russia is part of Europe.” 

Mr Wallace said that while the response to the refugee crisis was commendable, other people were suffering including children in Afghanistan who were in danger of starvation.

“Ukraine is not the only place where terrible things are happening, and it is terrible what’s happening,” he said.

Anyone fleeing a war situation should be accommodated, Europe's acceptance of Ukrainians is commendable. But why do we have a different attitude to the others? Is it because they’re the same colour as us, is it that they have a religion that’s more like ours?” 

He said “the US and Nato, European countries and Americans bombed [Afghanistan] back to the Stone Age and now 90% of its people don’t have enough to eat and we are not helping them”.

This article was edited for clarity on Thursday 24 March.