Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his predecessor are once again beating each other’s chests. Dmitry Medvedev believes that the country is finally being taken seriously again thanks to the war of aggression against Ukraine. And “nothing serious has been started yet,” Putin claims. The ruler is warning the West against imposing further sanctions. German politicians consider these to be empty threats.
One task, Medvedev writes on Telegram on Saturday, has already been fulfilled by the “military special operation”: “We are now seriously counting on Russia. As with the Soviet Union”. A cynical “track record” in the face of numerous civilian casualties, destruction and war crimes in Ukraine. But the former Russian president and current deputy head of the Security Council sees the sanctions imposed by the West as confirmation that Russia is being taken seriously again.
Putin threatens further sanctions with “catastrophic consequences”
Meanwhile, the current ruler, Vladimir Putin, has warned of further sanctions. “Further application of the sanctions policy can lead to even more serious, without exaggeration, even catastrophic consequences on the global energy market,” Putin said on Friday, according to the Interfax agency, at a meeting with government officials. In response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, the European Union has passed far-reaching sanctions, including an embargo on Russian oil.
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Once again, Putin spoke of an “economic blitzkrieg” in the West that had failed. Nevertheless, this time he conceded: “These actions, the restrictions are damaging our economy, and many risks remain.” The Kremlin chief said, for example, that Russian companies must prepare for the oil embargo and diversify when it comes to exporting energy resources.
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And Putin claimed something else with regard to the Russian offensive in Ukraine: “Everyone should know that by and large we haven’t started anything serious yet.” A bluff, according to CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter.
“For me, these are empty threats because Russia cannot afford further escalation,” Kiesewetter said on Deutschlandfunk on Saturday. “They depend on military success for better or for worse. We have to make it clear to our population that we need some perseverance.” The sanctions had a dramatic effect, but it would take time – “one to two years”.
CDU politician Kiesewetter warns of “syrification of war”
Kiesewetter argued that Russian arsenals were being exhausted and Russian forces were suffering “prodigious casualties”. “And this is now being compensated for by the apparent strength of the Russians in Lavrov’s negotiations, for example at the G20, or by pseudo-threats from Putin that Russia hasn’t really got started yet. So Russia is building a chimera.”
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Kiesewetter warned that Russia’s goal is “a kind of syrification of the war” in Ukraine. “It means that the war will get out of the headlines and that some kind of truce will allow Russia to recover and Ukraine to remain a rump Ukraine. And then millions will leave the country because they see that Ukraine has no future.” That must be prevented. (dpa/tdo)
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