"Putin's calculus": Germany's ex-ambassador declares "new hybrid warfare" by Russia against Europe
Created: 05/22/2022Updated: 05/22/2022, 09:05
By: Richard Strobl
A German ex-ambassador explains Putin's "new hybrid warfare" against Europe.
Reactions from Germany to the Ukraine war in the news ticker.
"Putin's calculation": A German ex-ambassador sees a "new hybrid warfare" against Europe.
This
news ticker on reactions from Germany to the Russia-Ukraine war
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Berlin - The long-standing German ambassador to Russia, Rüdiger von Fritsch, accuses Moscow of using the global supply crisis caused by the Ukraine war and the resulting threat of refugee movements as a means of warfare.
"Vladimir Putin is specifically trying to create hunger crises in the Middle East and North Africa," said von Fritsch in the Berlin
Tagesspiegel
about the Russian head of state.
That is why Russia is preventing Ukraine from exporting grain and even bombing grain silos.
Ukraine war: German ex-ambassador explains Russia's calculations
"Putin's calculus is that after grain supplies collapse, starving people will flee these regions and try to get to Europe - like the millions of Syrians who fled the horrors of war did then," said von Fritsch, who informed Putin in met in person several times in the past.
"
He wants to destabilize Europe with new streams of refugees and build up political pressure so that Western countries give up their tough stance against Russia."
This is "
a new form of hybrid warfare
", criticized the diplomat, who will soon be publishing the book "Turning Points: Putin's War and the Consequences".
Ex-German ambassador to Ukraine war: "Putin overturned the chessboard"
Von Fritsch does not believe in a quick end to the war.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Putin "turned over the chessboard" and "abruptly ended the successful attempt to jointly create security in Europe".
Defeat in Ukraine is out of the question for Putin, as he is now fighting for his own power in Russia, said the ex-ambassador.
Therefore, there is a high probability "that he will try to continue and escalate this war."
According to von Fritsch, he does not believe that the Russian head of state could also use nuclear weapons: “Vladimir Putin is neither crazy nor irrational.
It obeys a different logic.” The statements of the Russian leadership on the deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine by Western countries made it clear “that up to now they have very carefully avoided getting into a military confrontation with NATO”.
(afp)
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We have summarized the background to the Ukraine conflict for you here.
You can read the previous news on German reactions in the Ukraine war here.