Sánchez opens the door to deploying Spanish troops in Ukraine if a peace agreement is reached

The Diplomat Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has explicitly raised, for the first time, the possibility of Spain's participation with armed forces in Ukraine as part of the future security guarantee framework that would be activated following a potential ceasefire with Russia. The announcement was made in Paris, at the conclusion of the Coalition of Volunteers meeting, and now opens a complex internal political process, since any military deployment must be authorized by the Congress. In his remarks, Sánchez emphasized that the Spanish government "will propose opening the door to the participation of military capabilities in Ukraine" and asserted that Spain is prepared to contribute to the consolidation of peace "as it has done in many other parts of the world," through the presence of its armed forces. According to the president, the countries comprising the Coalition of Volunteers—a group of 35 states that has been coordinating the international response to the Russian invasion for over a year—are “close” to reaching an agreement to define the security framework that will be deployed once a ceasefire is declared, although he has not clarified whether Spain’s contribution is already part of a finalized consensus. The next step will be political and domestic. Sánchez has announced that starting next Monday he will begin a round of talks with most of the parliamentary groups in the Congress of Deputies to explain his proposal and garner support. With the parties to the left of the government traditionally reluctant to any military deployment abroad, the Executive may be forced to seek the support of the People’s Party to secure any eventual parliamentary authorization. The debate promises to be one of the most sensitive of the legislature, both for its military dimension and for its European and strategic implications in the context of the war in Ukraine.

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