Spain's president urges solidarity with Russia's EU neighbours

In his speech to the PSOE party Sánchez said the multilateral order was being threatened by Russia.

"What is at stake is not simply a war or an invasion. There is something much more besides this, which would be important in itself, and that is that the multilateral order is at stake," he said, stressing that it is a system based on principles established in the United Nations Charter.

The Spanish leader indicated that the aim is to achieve a "just and lasting" peace in Ukraine, where "peace is urgent, but not at the cost of rewarding the aggressor, which will open the door to future, even more serious aggressions."

He was also blunt in declaring that "if Ukraine wants to be part of the European Union, Russia has to respect what Ukraine wants to be".

Solidarity between European countries

Sánchez however acknowledged the different security realities faced by European countries, admitting that "defence in the east or east of Europe has nothing to do with the security challenges we have in Spain." Despite this, the president said that Spain will act in solidarity with those under threat.

"We are not going to have a physical attack from Russia like some of the Baltic or Nordic countries, such as Finland, might have. They need our solidarity and they need and demand that together we increase our security capacity to dissuade Russia," Sánchez explained, reaffirming Spain's pro-European commitment both "out of interest" and "out of conviction".