In Kyiv they lament that in Germany Putin is supported not by the fringes, but by the political mainstream
“The policy of the German Social Democrats on Russia introduces a model of cooperation that does not encourage the Kremlin to seek solutions to the problems it has created,” writes the Ukrainian Week magazine.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
“Can we talk about lifting sanctions from Russia without even remembering either Ukraine or the conflict in its East? Can we talk about sanctions as some kind of annoying abstraction, and not a concrete punishment for specific actions of the Kremlin? Can you imagine the annexation of Crimea as something that was difficult to predict? – the publication asks questions. - It turns out that it is possible. The German Social Democrats, members of the government coalition led by Angela Merkel, are now doing this very well.
Their head, Vice-Chancellor and Head of the Ministry of Economy and Energy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, showed the highest skill in such pro-Russian rhetoric. Thus, on the eve of his recent two-day visit to Moscow, he said: “Like the Foreign Minister, I believe that the sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea can be gradually eliminated as long as significant progress is achieved in implementing the Minsk agreements.”
“This is not the first example of such diplomatic sycophancy of German Social Democrats towards the Kremlin in recent times,” the magazine says indignantly. – Speaking in August at the Ural Federal University, the head of the German Foreign Ministry Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that on the issue of the annexation of Crimea, Russian signals were difficult to calculate: “At first it was “local self-defense forces”, then “little green men” appeared, and even later they were deployed intelligence services."
“UT” emphasizes that what should be especially alarming is that among “Putin’s German “dear friends” there are politicians of the highest echelon and rank.”
“This is not the right-wing fringe from the Alternative for Germany party, whose star broke out amid the refugee crisis. This is part of the mainstream, the Ukrainian magazine laments. – And it is not possible to explain the current pro-Russian policy of the German left only by electoral tactics. Beneath their rhetoric and actions are very specific strategies that could again become German government policy from next year, as was the case in the early 2000s under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Although supposedly since then a completely different geopolitical reality has appeared: it is difficult to predict what this failure to recognize the actual default of the Ostpolitik will cost Europe and Germany in particular.”
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.