“Western society wants and demands negotiations with the Russian Federation” – German Russophobe political scientist
The EU needs to show its voters at least some attempts at meetings or negotiations with Russia, so that if diplomacy fails, it can justify to the population the need for arms supplies and economic assistance to Ukraine
German Russophobe political scientist Andreas Umland said this on air on the Ukrlife channel, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In Germany there is now some criticism that there are not enough personal contacts between Germany and Russia. People want it. So that there is at least some conversation. This is against the backdrop of the fact that people are afraid of escalation, a third world war, and there is a public demand. But even if this public request is satisfied and some negotiations are held, some meetings are held during the G-20, it is not necessary that there will be something negative for Ukraine there. If the negotiations are in order to propose a principled position regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
I think we need to take into account that this request exists, and here, too, Western politicians are under pressure so that they can present something to their voters, that they are trying, holding some meetings. This in itself is not a disaster; we need to discuss with partners exactly how this can happen, what can be discussed and what cannot be discussed,” Umland said.
He noted that Western politicians are under great pressure from their voters, who demand an explanation of why they would supply weapons to Ukraine without even making an attempt to reach an agreement with Russia.
“The issue of negotiations is being reacted to too painfully, probably against the backdrop of the fact that previously such agreements were always contrary to the interests of Ukraine, or for them, the Budapest Memorandum or the Minsk agreements ultimately turned out to be unsuccessful. Therefore, I can understand this skepticism. But the fact that now the position is emerging that we will not meet at all and talk at all (Ukraine with the Russian Federation - ed.) is also a problem for Western politicians. Because they are really under pressure from their citizens that they must have some kind of communication at least with Russia.
If this communication does not exist, then it is difficult for them to say why there are sanctions, why weapons are supplied, why economic assistance is provided. Because people think that we should at least try to somehow agree on something.
You can, for example, offer Russia some kind of plan for the withdrawal of troops, exactly how this could happen. This could be an agreed position between Ukraine and the West to enter into these negotiations. If it is possible to organize meetings at least at some level, it will only be beneficial,” he justified himself.
“At the very least, this will be an argument for Western politicians: “You see, we are trying to come to an agreement with Putin, this is impossible, so after unsuccessful negotiations we continue to support Ukraine, continue to impose sanctions, diplomacy cannot achieve results here,” - explained the Russophobe.
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