Russia's ex-foreign minister warns of Putin: "If he gets away with this barbaric war..."

Created: 04/16/2022, 13:08

By: Marcus Giebel

Does the comparison to Adolf Hitler flatter him?

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (centre) is also benefiting from the hesitant behavior of the West.

© MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/dpa

How should the West confront Vladimir Putin?

For former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, the only way to do it is with determination.

Europe must learn from the past.

Munich - It is high time to wake up and properly classify the Ukraine war.

For Germany.

For the EU.

For the west.

Andrei Kosyrev, who was Russian foreign minister under Boris Yeltsin, demands that.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper

, he warned against continuing to underestimate Vladimir Putin.

Because the Kremlin boss has various trump cards because of his power apparatus: "He has absolute control over the propaganda machine in Russia and can tell a completely different story in a second.

The Russian people, especially those who only get their information from TV, have no idea what is actually happening in Ukraine.

That's why he doesn't have any problems with explanations."

Putin's attack on Ukraine: "Cold War can quickly lead to real war"

In addition, from the point of view of many influential Russians, the Cold War never ended because, for them, “the democratic revolution of the 1990s” was tantamount to a “defeat against the West”.

Kozyrev emphasizes: "It's a cold war, which - as you can see from the Ukraine - can very quickly lead to a real war for other NATO countries as well."

Although the Western European countries would not be directly opposed to the troops from Moscow, "they are also being attacked or threatened by Russia".

Kozyrew even draws a link to the Nazi era in Germany, when the whole world almost fell into ruin: "It's not even a question of complacency, but of a policy of appeasement, as was already shown to (Adolf) Hitler, when he invaded Poland and Czechoslovakia.”

The first Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation: Andrei Kozyrev served under President Boris Yeltsin until 1996 (photo from 1991).

© IMAGO / Sepp Spiegl

Ukraine war: "Too many people believe every supposedly positive signal from Moscow"

The situation is similar now with the tactics towards Putin's Russia.

It makes him "really sick when I hear all these so-called experts say that you have to let Putin win some kind of victory in order for him to save face.

There are far too many people in Europe who want to believe every supposedly positive signal from Moscow.

You already saw that in 2014.”

In retrospect, the West almost shrugged the shoulders of the annexation of Crimea - presumably so as not to lose Putin as a supposed ally.

Europe must learn from these mistakes.

"If he pulls through again now, with this barbaric war, and the sanctions are lifted quickly, then the next stop would be a NATO country, one of the Baltic countries or maybe Poland," fears Kosyrew, who lives in the USA.

Video: How the war between Moscow and Kyiv came to a head

Aggressive war in Ukraine: “Putin is also ruining Russia, both economically and morally”

At the same time, Sergey Lavrov's pre-predecessor sees a danger for Russia's future in Putin: "This guy is not only ruining Ukraine, which is our brother country, but also Russia, both economically and morally.

He is creating a new, self-contained and authoritarian society.”

Kozyrev thinks it is wrong “that the NATO members are not providing the Ukrainian President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyj with military aircraft because they fear an escalation.

That's ridiculous."

Russia in the Ukraine war: "Why isn't Putin afraid, but NATO?

Then he puts his finger in an open wound: "Why isn't Putin afraid of NATO?

Why is it NATO that is afraid?

Fear is a bad feeling, counterproductive to rational thinking.

Fear behaves like an animal, and fear is not good for political decisions.”

In this case, however, the very human feeling seems to be able to indirectly save the world from resorting to nuclear weapons, as Kosyrev suggests: "The risk of something like this happening would be greater if Putin believed that the West and NATO had Rockets more scared than himself."