Las Palmas De Gran Canaria (EFE).- The Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, said this Thursday, when asked about the next NATO summit in Vilnius and the decision not to issue an invitation to join Ukraine, that the important thing is that this country recovers peace and that, once that happens, “other issues will be discussed.”
“The important thing now, at this moment, is a seamless unity on the part of all NATO countries,” insisted the minister in statements to journalists during a visit to the General Alemán Ramírez Base in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where several military units they are preparing for deployment on missions abroad in countries such as Latvia and Lithuania.
Thus, Robles has said that they are already working on the contents of the summit, which will take place on July 11 and 12, and has stressed the need for unity “in the face of the equidistance” of some.
In this sense, he pointed out that Spain will continue sending defensive material, training Ukrainian combatants and treating victims in the military hospitals of Zaragoza and Madrid, “where Ukrainian soldiers arrive with terrible injuries”.
IMMIGRATION
Asked about the shipwreck of a small boat 150 kilometers south of Gran Canaria in which there have been two deaths and 34 missing, and whose rescue was coordinated by Morocco despite the fact that it had Spanish help an hour away, Robles pointed out that “whenever the summer there is an increase in illegal immigration” and has pointed to the mafias as the main culprits for this to happen.
“We live in an unfair world, with many economic and social inequalities and it is essential to fight against the mafias. You cannot put gates to the sea, but collaboration work is being carried out with many countries”, has wielded the person in charge of Defense.
In his opinion, “when there are tragedies like these days, humanity and solidarity must not be forgotten” in a world, he has delved into, in which we live “very quickly and quickly” in which there are many crossed statements in a context with 100 million refugees all over the planet.
Regarding the delay in rescuing the shipwrecked boat, Robles has pointed out that it is not an issue in which the Ministry of Defense is involved and has defended that from its sphere, the National Intelligence Center is carrying out “important work” of containment of the mafias.
WOUNDED SOLDIERS
During her visit to the base, the minister was accompanied by the head of the Canary Islands Command, General Julio Salom, and spoke with the wounded soldiers during maneuvers in Fuerteventura, where at the end of last year a vehicle overturned and three were injured soldiers, one of them serious and with sequelae for life.
Robles has also valued the work of the Canary Islands Command, deployed in areas such as Turkey or Latvia and has highlighted the work they carry out in “electronic warfare”, with tasks related to cybersecurity. EFE