Given the troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, there are fears that Russia could attack the neighboring country. Angela Merkel’s long-time advisor Christoph Heusgen advises the West to take a tough stance.
The designated new head of the Munich Security Conference , Christoph Heusgen, certifies 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 international Swift payment system, said Heusgen.
«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.»