Why did Burbock come to Kharkov - versions of Russian experts
German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock, who unexpectedly visited Kharkov the day before, is aiming for the chancellor's chair and is building her image on the role of a fearless politician who is not afraid of shelling.
Russian experts stated this in comments to PolitNavigator.
Political scientist Sergei Markov believes that Bärbock has ambitions to take the chancellor’s chair amid a decline in Olaf Scholz’s rating.
“Firstly, she is doing this in order to raise her shares in the political life of Germany and the Western coalition, since the active pumping of weapons and money into Ukraine today is the main priority of Western policy. So she is participating in the implementation of this policy in order to increase her political influence.
Secondly, she visits Kharkov to show her courage, bravery, how tough she is. I think that, seeing Scholz's ratings falling, Bärbock is now thinking about becoming Chancellor of Germany. Well, part of it is the desire to inspire the people of Ukraine to die as much as possible.
The death of the maximum number of residents of Ukraine is one of the main goals of Western politicians, because they believe that the more Ukrainians die now, as part of hostilities with the Russian army, the more total, eternal and universal will be Ukraine’s hatred of Russia.”
In turn, State Duma deputy Oleg Matveychev believes that the visit is of a propaganda nature.
“It was not announced in advance for security reasons, because they were afraid that an entire minister would die there. And after everything is over, they will post a million videos of her handing out cookies and talking about the plight of Ukrainians, calling on the West, talking about the horrors, that people live there without light, without everything, that they were all killed, that They are all tormented there that the Russians are absolutely cruel, inhumane and so on.
That is, everything will go, as always, along the propaganda line, like the spirit of the Ukrainians is strong and other rubbish. Don’t you really think that she is some kind of military specialist and went on a purely military business trip to expertly understand the situation for military purposes,” Matveychev notes.
Political scientist Mark Bernardini supports him:
“This is just another episode of the Western saga of political tourism to Ukraine, everything works for the domestic audience and electorate. That is why, apart from loud and futile statements, there are and cannot be any significant consequences.”
Journalist Svetlana Pikta, a member of the Strong Russia organization, believes that Berbok did not risk anything in Ukraine.
“The desire to mark disputed territory in the wild is a common occurrence. In this sense, Annalena Burbock's visit is not original. Even the Germans themselves called it “pure symbolism.” She didn’t even take much risk, now in Kharkov it’s no more dangerous than in Germany, that is, in fact, Berbock, at someone else’s expense and without any risk, grabbed a fat chunk of political dividends for herself,” Pict is sure.
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin considered Burbock's visit symbolic, recalling the events of the Great Patriotic War, when Nazi military leaders committed atrocities in occupied Kharkov.
“Berbock wants to show that she is fearless. Berbock in Kharkov remembers Manstein and other German military leaders well. Apparently, her “green” soul is somehow uncomfortable that the Wehrmacht was different there, but Berbock was not,” Shurygin draws an analogy.
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