Enlarge image
Christoph Heusgen: “Putin has said several times that the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
The head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, believes that a Russian attack on NATO territory cannot be ruled out if Ukraine loses the war. When asked whether he trusted Putin to attack a NATO country, Heusgen told the “Rheinische Post”: “Of course. Putin has said several times that the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union, because it left many Russians stranded outside Russia's borders.
Putin wants to restore a Greater Russia within the borders of the former Soviet Union, a Russian world empire in which he rules like a tsar, said Heusgen. "If Putin doesn't lose the war in Ukraine, we have to expect that he will also reach out to the Republic of Moldova or the Baltic states."
He doesn't want to speculate about what Putin is really daring to do. "But we have to do everything we can to ensure that Ukraine gets the weapons and military aid it needs to successfully defend itself against the Russian aggressors and drive them out of its territory." Heusgen was a long-time foreign policy advisor to former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Putin had said in an interview with right-wing host Tucker Carlson that Russia had no territorial claims against Poland or the Baltic state of Latvia. A Russian invasion of these NATO states is "absolutely impossible" - with one possible exception: "If Poland attacks Russia." The President of the Polish Parliament, Szymon Holownia, warned in Warsaw not to believe Putin's appeasing statements.
A total of around 50 heads of state and government will come to Munich from February 16th to 18th for the 60th security conference at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, including Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Around 100 ministers and numerous other politicians and experts are also expected.
hen/dpa