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Former UN ambassador Heusgen: Putin aims to "restore a Russian empire"

2021-12-28T06:57:23.659Z


Given the military activity on the border with Ukraine, there are fears that Russia might attack the neighboring country. Angela Merkel's long-time advisor Christoph Heusgen advises the West to take a tough stance.


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Christoph Heusgen was Angela Merkel's foreign and security policy advisor for many years

Photo: Luiz Rampelotto / dpa

The designated new head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, attests to Russian President Vladimir Putin's "desire for expansion" and advises the West to take a tough stance in the Ukraine conflict.

Putin sees the USA and Europe as weakened by the change of government and because of the inglorious end of the Afghanistan mission and is looking for a reason to invade Ukraine, the former German ambassador to the United Nations told the editorial network Germany.

In this case, sanctions would also have to include the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany and the exclusion of Russia from the Swift international payment system, Heusgen said.

"Putin would interpret a soft reaction as weakness and only stimulate his desire for expansion."

Heusgen, long-time foreign and security policy advisor to Angela Merkel, went on to say: "Putin lives in his own nostalgic world in which international law is not a standard." He glorified the Soviet Union and even the Stalin regime. "He is striving to restore a Russian empire that is reminiscent of the Soviet Union." Putin's claim that NATO had promised not to expand eastwards after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact was "pure propaganda" and unfounded. "Putin knows all of this very well."

In view of the tensions between Russia and NATO, the Defense Ministry in Moscow only warned Western military attachés of the risk of armed conflict on Monday.

"Recently the Alliance has adopted a practice of direct provocation, which poses a high risk of escalating into armed confrontation," said Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin.

For weeks now, the West has been particularly concerned about the fact that Russia has pulled together tens of thousands of soldiers in areas not far from Ukraine.

However, last week Putin expressed his willingness to resolve the tension diplomatically.

Talks with the USA are scheduled for January.

Moscow is calling for an end to NATO's eastward expansion, which it sees itself threatened by.

In addition, Russia wants to ensure that Ukraine does not become a member of NATO.

Representatives of the USA and Russia want to discuss the Ukraine conflict and nuclear weapons control on January 10th.

Meetings between representatives of Russia and NATO are planned two days later, and consultations between Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are to follow on January 13.

svs / dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-12-28

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