Minister says former president’s comments outweigh Heimi Már’s call to arms

Iceland’s foreign minister says former President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson’s comments on international affairs are more serious than a governing-party spokesman’s call for NATO allies to take part in military action against Russia and threats to use nuclear weapons, mbl.is reported.

Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir made the remarks in an interview with mbl.is after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. She was asked why she had turned to comments by Grímsson when responding to remarks made in parliament by Heimir Már Pétursson, executive director and information officer for the People’s Party. A related mbl.is headline said Pétursson had urged French President Emmanuel Macron to prepare nuclear weapons.

Gunnarsdóttir said she hoped Grímsson was enjoying life rather than amplifying posts by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticising Arctic Sentry, a NATO monitoring operation in the North Atlantic. She said the operation was important for Iceland’s defence and security, and for the country’s participation in NATO.

The foreign minister said Grímsson, despite no longer holding office, still had a strong voice abroad. She recalled being asked at the Munich Security Conference whether it was difficult to have a former president promoting Russian views in repeated posts. She said she had been told he had posted many times around 2022.

Gunnarsdóttir described Pétursson’s remarks as a smaller matter, saying she had condemned them and that he had apologised. She also criticised the opposition for not challenging people she said were working against Iceland’s foreign policy, which parliament has approved. Grímsson has strongly denied supporting Russia and accused the minister of speaking dishonestly.

Gunnarsdóttir said support for Ukraine did not rule out diplomatic engagement. She said she had not criticised a call between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, which she said took place in consultation with Ukraine.

She said Iceland condemns Russia’s war of aggression and stands with Ukraine, not Russia. She added that she would not allow the Russian embassy to divert attention from what she described as Russia’s brutal violence in Ukraine.