Baerbock on sanctions
Russia should no longer be able to wage aggressive wars
05/02/2022 00:46
According to Foreign Minister Baerbock, after Ukraine, Putin could also target the Baltic States or Moldova. She also defends the shipment of heavy weapons.
According to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the Western sanctions also aim to weaken Russia’s economy so that it cannot start another war. “Of course I want Russia to never again wage a war of aggression that violates international law,” said the Greens politician on Sunday evening on ARD.
“Through the sanctions, we are ensuring that further military action in other regions by Russian forces alone is not possible in the next few years,” she added. Because Russia is being so damaged by its war of aggression and Western sanctions that the country will not be able to get back on its feet “for years”. President Vladimir Putin is thus decisively weakening his own country.
The cohesion of the West is so important because one cannot be sure what Russia will do next. Putin has not ruled out an attack on Moldova or the Baltic States. “If we accept that, it would be an invitation for more,” she said of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We cannot be sure what the next Russian steps would be.”
“Responsibility for inaction too”
That is why we are now investing in the security of partner countries and will stand together for peace. You owe it to your neighbors. The sanctions against Russia would not be lifted until Russia had withdrawn all of its troops from Ukraine.
Baerbock defended the federal government’s decision to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine. “We also bear responsibility for inaction,” she said. “If we had made the decision now that we would not deliver any more weapons, no heavy weapons, then we would put more places in Ukraine in the hands of the Russian President. (…) If we didn’t do anything, that would be it The suffering of the Ukrainians is much, much worse.”
Baerbock praised previous governments for failing to lift EU sanctions imposed in 2014 in connection with Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula. A repeal would have been a retrospective legitimacy of the Russian action.