“The anti-Russian unity of the EU is bursting at the seams and will split very soon”
The election results in Germany are optimistic for Moscow. Anti-Russian unity in Europe is bursting at the seams. Nord Stream 2 will be built despite US opposition. Russian political scientist Oleg Bondarenko, who had just returned from Berlin, where he observed the last campaign to the Bundestag, spoke about this in an interview with PolitNavigator.
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"PolitNavigator": Immediately after the German elections in your Telegram channel ProGermania a forecast was published: in the new parliament there will be a more significant counterweight to Angela Merkel’s anti-Russian line. But the left and the Alternative for Germany still have few votes even if they share. What will the increased presence of deputies loyal to the Russian Federation in the Bundestag bring, except, figuratively speaking, pictures for our TV channels? Or is the picture important too?
Oleg Bondarenko: In the last convocation of the Bundestag there was one faction of the Left, numbering only 64 deputies, up to half of whom were wary of Russia’s actions since 2014, and the other half, in particular, deputies such as Andrei Hunko, Wolfgang Gehrke, Alexander Noah was constantly subjected to far-fetched accusations of collaborating with the Kremlin and for this reason were forced to behave as carefully as possible.
In fact, none of the official, mandated politicians came forward with an alternative point of view to the anti-Russian mainstream.
Now the situation has changed and its main difference is that between the “Left” and the “Alternative”, which entered the Bundestag for the first time, competition will now begin for the best defense of positions alternative to the mainstream - including those defending the need for greater cooperation with Moscow as opposed to American expansion.
Of course, it is hardly possible to imagine an alliance between these two forces, but at least in matters of partnership with Russia they will take largely similar positions, and the internal struggle between them will force them to more clearly defend their positions.
This is, in my opinion, the main victory of these elections for Russia - in the legitimation of the pro-Russian discourse as the main alternative to the Brussels-Washington one, and not at all in increasing the total number of alternative-minded deputies by 100 mandates. Although this is also important.
“PolitNavigator”: After the UN General Assembly there was a press conference by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. An interesting detail: the journalists present from all over the world did not ask a single question related to Ukraine or Crimea. Is this evidence that the topic has gone off the agenda? Did anyone raise the issue of the crisis around Ukraine during the elections in Germany?
Oleg Bondarenko: The topic remains on the world agenda insofar as Western sanctions against Russia, introduced after the events of the “Russian Spring” in Crimea and Donbass, continue to apply. During the election campaign in Germany, even liberals from the Free Democratic Party expressed the view that it is necessary to build rational relations with Russia, based on the pragmatic interests of our countries. Bearing in mind, of course, the sanctions from which the German economy has lost billions of euros over these three years. So the topic of Crimea and Donbass, apparently, will remain on the international agenda for a long time.
“PolitNavigator”: What do Germans, both ordinary people and politicians, generally say about relations with Russia? Is there anti-Russian hysteria in Germany - “the Russians are preparing an invasion of Europe”?
Oleg Bondarenko: The main drivers of anti-Russian hysteria in Germany are the editors of mainstream media. It was they who made the best German press the most Russophobic press in the world. These are Western liberals who grew up on grant programs from Western foundations.
The singers are Deutsche Welle and media from the Axel Springer concern. These people set the agenda and set the mainstream. Politicians, like ordinary journalists, are hostages of this mainstream and in order not to be subjected to massive attacks by the mainstream media and bullying of colleagues, they are forced to be overly cautious and not touch upon the topic of cooperation with Moscow, so as not to become “Putin’s agents.” We must understand that the hysteria to find Moscow’s agents has already turned into paranoia in Germany.
“PolitNavigator”: By the way, is it true that Germany is a US colony, etc.? How great is this dependence, incl. and in line with Russia?
Oleg Bondarenko: Germany is the defining country of the European Union, without which the EU is impossible in principle. It is in Berlin that it is decided whether to allocate money to Greece or allow it to leave the eurozone. The real European finance minister is Wolfgang Schäuble, not the operatic Brussels.
At the same time, Germany is a country with limited sovereignty, since the largest American contingent outside the United States is located on its territory (and no one is going to withdraw it from there, like Russian troops in 1994), most of the gold and foreign exchange reserves The Federal Republic of Germany is in indefinite storage in the United States, and, finally, in our world, only those who have nuclear weapons have real sovereignty.
Once Germany has its own nuclear arsenal, you will see how much its policy and attitude towards it will change among the rest of Europe. In the meantime, it is a country with limited sovereignty, but even in this state it is the political and economic center of continental Europe.
PolitNavigator: Is German business really suffering greatly from mutual sanctions? Are sanctions forever, or is revision possible?
Oleg Bondarenko: In the three years since the introduction of sanctions, German business has lost more than 10 billion euros. And this is according to the most conservative estimates. Berlin is more than anyone else in the EU interested in lifting sanctions.
Our countries are building a joint energy project, which very soon will ensure the energy security of Europe - Nord Stream. The first part of it is already working successfully, the second part should begin to be built in the near future, although the United States has already announced that it will impose sanctions on any European banks that will lend to the project. Therefore, you will have to look for money in Asia.
And this despite the fact that in response to the American statement, the Foreign Ministers of Germany and Austria, Sigmar Gabriel and Sebastian Kurz, reacted unusually harshly and quickly.
In my opinion, US sanctions against Moscow will last a very long time. But European anti-Russian unity is bursting at the seams and will split very soon. You just need to work on it systematically!
"PolitNavigator": What is your impression after visiting Germany about the refugee problem? Is it really there visually? Which side do you sympathize with - the left or the ADC on the refugee issue, why?
Oleg Bondarenko: Refugees or migrants are a fact of life in modern Germany. You can close the borders and not let in any more illegal immigrants, but the question is - what to do with the remaining ones?? The right proposes to legally close mosques that are growing like mushrooms after rain in German cities. The left, on the contrary, calls for migrants to be given benefits and the same rights as Germans. The truth, in my opinion, is somewhere in the middle.
On the eve of the elections, Alternative, together with the Free Democrats, announced their intention to check on the basis of which laws Merkel allowed more than a million refugees into the country in 2015. Many experts believe that there are serious reasons to believe that from the point of view of German legislation this was a violation.
"PolitNavigator": Germany is our "main European housing office." What do they say about the prospects of Nord Stream 2 and the American plans to supply liquefied gas through Poland? And, by the way, how do they evaluate the Poles’ demands to pay compensation for damage during the war?
Oleg Bondarenko: No one in Germany takes the demands of the Poles seriously. In general, there is a certain condescending attitude towards Eastern European neophytes. And it is quite understandable.
As for Nord Stream 2, much will now depend on the composition of the new coalition and its position. The main lobbyist of SP-2, Gerhard Schröder, recently moved to work as chairman of the board of directors of Rosneft. He is Germany's most powerful lobbyist. In my opinion, this is significant.
"PolitNavigator": What is the condition of Soviet monuments in Berlin? Are there plans to decommunize them?
Oleg Bondarenko: Soviet monuments are a national treasure of Germany. Anyone who dares to even mention something like that will receive a wolf ticket for life.
“PolitNavigator”: By the way, Ukrainian “non-brothers” periodically threaten that Germany will someday raise the issue of Kaliningrad. Is there such a threat?
Oleg Bondarenko: For Germans, Kaliningrad is a place of historical nostalgia at best, but not an object for revenge. The maximum political nostalgia for Königsberg is expressed in the AfD’s proposal to launch a Berlin-Kaliningrad train. But I don’t think that this can be dangerous for the Russian status of the region.
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