Ads Top

German Foreign Minister promotes permanent toughness against Putin


Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has announced a permanently tougher EU policy towards Russia.

Berlin - "We have to look reality in the eye: This Russia will remain a threat to peace and security in Europe for the foreseeable future," she writes in a guest article for Zeit. She is therefore calling for a resolute sanctions policy, more money for defense, support for the Russian civilian population and curbing Russian influence in the Global South. "Invading Ukraine in winter and wanting to send your team to England for the European Football Championship in summer as if nothing had happened: that doesn't work," said the Greens politician.

"With our sanctions, we are not only curtailing Moscow's economic capabilities in the long term, but above all its military capabilities as well." Meanwhile, Russian civil society "must not remain at the mercy of the regime's stranglehold." The EU must therefore use channels through which young people in Russia can still obtain objective information.

"When in doubt, platforms like Tiktok or Telegram are more effective than formats like the Petersburg Dialogue, for which we are also dependent on state structures in Russia." "Putin's propaganda machine" in Africa must also be stopped. "He accepts that his grain war is starving countless men, women and children in the Horn of Africa; at the same time he spreads the false claim that this is a result of the sanctions - although there are no sanctions on grain."

Both in Africa and in Central Asia, the EU should make better offers for cooperation to individual countries than Russia. "What we offer are reliable partnerships and fair investments - instead of military dependencies and gag contracts," says Baerbock.

Photo: Getty Images / Sergei Ilnyin, Steffi Loos / Collage Männersache.
Powered by Blogger.