Acting Foreign Minister Baiba Braže met in Estonia with NATO General Ingo Gerhartz and shared her calculations of the distances covered by snails and soldiers.
Assessing Russia's current military capabilities, the minister stated that Ukraine has seized the initiative.
"To say that the Russian army is advancing at a snail's pace would be an insult to snails. If a snail had started moving from Avdiivka in February 2022 and headed west, it would have already reached the Czech Republic by now, while Russia is still stuck in Donbas," Braže stated.
Indeed, the distance between the Czech Republic and Donbas is 1600-1700 km. A snail crawls at a speed of 800-1200 meters per day, and thus it would take 4-6 years for it to reach the Czech Republic.
Another matter is that garden snails live for 1–3 years. This means that the finish line in Prague could be crossed by the children or grandchildren of the snail that started in Donbas.
Speaking at a conference named after the late former President of Estonia Lennart Meri (who ruled from 1992 to 2001), Latvia's acting minister Braže announced four main directions for strengthening European security:
strengthening Europe's military capabilities and defense industry, expanding NATO's presence on the eastern flank, continuing long-term support for Ukraine, and weakening Russia through sanctions and political pressure.
