NEW YORK (VG) Prime Minister Jonas Karstor kicked off a busy week in the US by meeting with two powerful figures in Congress. Both are concerned about Europe’s energy crisis.
– The Prime Minister tells VG on the phone that it is important for me to look at areas of American politics that are important to how America elects in the coming years.
He then took a train from Washington DC to New York a short distance north on the US East Coast.
The UN’s annual General Assembly and world leaders from 193 member states, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, await there.
He held two meetings Monday afternoon in Congress in the US capital.
One with House of Representatives Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The second was with Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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Storr says he presented a Norwegian perspective on the Ukraine war and Europe’s energy problems.
– Regarding Ukraine, they are very much in agreement with President Biden’s packages, statements and supporting the policy he has taken. “Even though some Republicans in the House of Representatives won’t vote for it, I think he has support in Congress,” Storr said.
– I have a feeling that McConnell is getting that support in the Senate.
Earlier in the day, Storr visited the American aircraft carrier USS “Gerald R. Ford”.
– We had another president – Trump – who looked the other way and was less interested in NATO. Storr says both McConnell and Pelosi were accurate in ensuring that Congress was behind America’s active NATO membership.
Worries about energy crisis
– Do they follow? Energy crisis In Europe?
– They were both very concerned with our assessment of the political consequences of that crisis. They were well aware that gas was now disappearing from Europe. Norway’s gas is very important. I can confirm that Norway is working closely with Europe to find a solution where we can, the prime minister replied.
Both McConnell and Pelosi wanted to talk about whether the energy crisis, coupled with extreme electricity and gas prices, could weaken support for Ukraine — where many European countries suffer from dependence on Putin’s capricious Russian gas supplies.
– My answer to that is that I think it will be a tough winter, but my reading is that the European democracies are standing together, Storr says.
Lavrov in the same room
Since Russia is still a member of the UN, its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to attend this week’s General Assembly meeting in New York.
A meeting of the UN Security Council takes place on Thursday, where Russia is a permanent member and Norway is a non-permanent member. There, Storr will be sitting in Norway’s place, in the same room as Lavrov.
In recent days, new mass graves have been discovered in Ukraine after the Russians withdrew from the city. Isium.
– It is a dark background, but at the same time the UN is a place where nations meet.
– How would it be if Lavrov were in this room?
– We have to handle it in a professional manner. That is the purpose of the UN we meet. Storr replied, “Russia knows what Norway thinks about this war, about Russia’s responsibility, both for acts of war that could have such great consequences for Ukrainians, and about Russia’s responsibility for ending the war.”
– If I get a chance to say it around a table or in person, I’ll take the opportunity.
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