Matthias Platzeck and Sahra Wagenknecht are shocked about the invasion of Ukraine. They could know very well what plans were being made in Moscow, says Gunnar Schupelius.
The Russian army’s attack on Ukraine makes those who understand Putin ponder and publicly distance themselves from the Kremlin.
Two prominent politicians are among them: the member of the Bundestag Sahra Wagenknecht (left) and the former Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck (SPD).
Wagenknecht recently stated in her podcast that she sees the West as an aggressor. On the Sunday before the war began, she said on the talk show “Anne Will” that we could “be very glad that Putin is not what he is portrayed, namely a crazy Russian nationalist (…).” On the following Thursday she corrected herself and confessed admitted to having misjudged Putin.
Matthias Platzeck, who has headed the influential business association “German-Russian Forum” since 2014, was shocked: “Until recently I thought what happened was unthinkable.”
Platzeck has excellent contacts in Putin’s circle. Couldn’t he really have known how the mood in the Kremlin was and what was planned?
His great astonishment does not seem credible, because he too often acted like a lobbyist for the Russian government. When Putin confiscated Crimea in 2014, Platzeck campaigned for this annexation to be “subsequently regulated under international law” and stubbornly fought EU sanctions against Moscow.
► Read all of Gunnar Schupelius’ columns here
In May 2014, he invited Putin’s buddy and oligarch Vladimir Yakunin to Berlin for a chat, after Yakunin had already been banned from entering the United States.
In September 2014 he performed again with Yakunin, who spread one lie after another, for example that “fascism” was on the rise again in Ukraine and also in other European countries. This crazy fairy tale now serves as a pretext for Putin’s invasion.
Platzeck did not contradict Yakunin at the time, on the contrary, he took a similar line and blamed the West for disregarding Russia’s interests.
Three years later, in November 2017, he praised Putin for his “vision of a common European space from Lisbon to Vladivostok” and failed to mention that this vision included a rupture in Europe’s connection with America and the end of NATO.
I think both Wagenknecht and Platzeck knew very well what Putin was aiming for, which was to turn Russia’s neighbors into vassal states. He revealed this goal in 2008 during the war against Georgia and has clearly formulated it since 2014. At that time one should have spoken and reacted openly.
Instead, it went like Max Frisch’s famous drama Biedermann und die Brandstifter: Everything was clear, but nobody wanted to know. This is the truth and not that one was foolishly “wrong”.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]