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Expert considers historical Putin mistake to be possible - "Would make the collapse of the Soviet Union look unimportant"

2021-12-29T05:09:57.888Z


Expert considers historical Putin mistake to be possible - "Would make the collapse of the Soviet Union look unimportant" Created: 12/29/2021, 05:56 AM From: Florian Naumann Vladimir Putin on Monday in St. Petersburg - here during a phone call for a charity campaign. © Alexei Nikolsky / www.imago-images.de NATO looks towards the Ukrainian border with concern. A former head of government and to


Expert considers historical Putin mistake to be possible - "Would make the collapse of the Soviet Union look unimportant"

Created: 12/29/2021, 05:56 AM

From: Florian Naumann

Vladimir Putin on Monday in St. Petersburg - here during a phone call for a charity campaign.

© Alexei Nikolsky / www.imago-images.de

NATO looks towards the Ukrainian border with concern.

A former head of government and top diplomat believes a momentous Russian move is possible - and warns Putin.

Moscow / Stockholm - A good 30 years ago, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the "end of history". The fact that it is far from that far has been shown once again in a disturbing way these days: in the form of borderlines suddenly appearing shaky in the middle of Europe. Ukraine is concerned about a possible Russian invasion.

The existence of the conflict could also have something to do with President Vladimir Putin's will to write a history that is advantageous for him, the experienced Swedish foreign politician and diplomat Carl Bildt recently indicated.

He did not consider a Russian invasion to be ruled out - just like a capital fallacy or even a “tragedy” of Putin: In the end, the collapse of the Soviet Union could look insignificant compared to the consequences of Putin's mistakes, wrote Bildt in an article for the website shortly before Christmas

Project Syndicate

.

Putin failure: expert Bildt attests gross mistakes - "The collapse of the Soviet Union, on the other hand, is unimportant"

Over the holidays there had been certain signs of détente at the Ukrainian border: Russia declared its controversial military maneuver over. But the worries

do not

end there. Putin is aiming for the "destruction" of Ukraine and the restoration of the Soviet Union, said the Ukrainian security advisor Danilov in an interview with the AFP news agency on Friday. Germany must take the concerns of its eastern neighbors seriously, appealed on Monday, Union parliamentary deputy Johann Wadephul (CDU).

In his article, which was only a few days old - and recommended as required reading by the outgoing Munich Siko boss Wolfgang Ischinger - Bildt also did not anticipate a fundamental change of course in Moscow: Putin was following an "eight-year-old script", he judged - it would be in autumn 2013 The aim was to prevent Ukraine, as well as Moldova and Armenia, from signing free trade agreements, wrote the former Swedish head of government and foreign minister. But he attested Putin a fundamental failure. "Not only did Putin fail to throw the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement off course, he also managed to transform Ukraine from a friendly neighbor into a country that Russia perceives as dangerous and hostile".

Bildt's dry comment: "Invading foreign countries is a historically proven means of creating permanent enemies".

Putin now faces the embarrassing prospect of going down in history as the Russian leader “who lost Ukraine,” he added, probably with a view to “soft” Russian spheres of influence.

“Even the collapse of the Soviet Union could ultimately look less important than Putin's blunder,” said Bildt.

A full swipe at the end of this era of a Russian-influenced superpower, repeatedly lamented by Putin.

Russia with new claims to power: Putin focuses on “regional security” - via fake news?

Bildt also dared to take a look. Putin apparently used his Corona quarantine in the summer to study history - and with the Kremlin's claims to power over Ukraine and Belarus, made it clear that he wanted to iron out his mistakes. It seems plausible that the Russian President wants to take advantage of the US situation after the failed Afghanistan withdrawal: the goal is to persuade Joe Biden's government to make concessions, above all to reject Ukraine's NATO membership, Bildt continued.

The background: After the flop in the attempt to prevent the economic ties between Ukraine and the EU, the focus is now on “regional security issues”.

To this end, Russia also used claims about planned missile deployments in Ukraine or genocides against the Russian-speaking population.

Nevertheless, there is “not the slightest resemblance to reality”.

Putin: "Wish for a Greater Russia"?

- Carl Bildt sees the Kremlin on a "dangerous path"

The path to a diplomatic solution is narrow and time is short, explained Bildt, who once also served as the UN High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina - especially since NATO cannot tolerate countries being deprived of the opportunity to determine their own fate . This also applies to Finland, for example, emphasized the Swede. Worries about possible follow-up claims by Russia also made the situation more difficult.

It is true that there is a proposal to disclose and limit the number of conventional troops in Europe.

However, Russia has repeatedly rejected such offers - and they are also no solution to Putin's "desire to create a Greater Russia".

A Russian invasion of Ukraine is an “extreme” scenario, but despite all the dangers for the Russian economy, it cannot be ruled out: the Kremlin has embarked on “a dangerous path”.

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-12-29

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