Shortly before the Russian attack on Ukraine, left-wing politician Gregor Gysi and FDP man Alexander Graf Lambsdorff discussed the conflict at “Markus Lanz”. Their opinions differed significantly.
Russia has fulfilled his month-long threats and the Ukraine attacked militarily early Thursday morning. could Gregory Gysi (left) and Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (PDF) did not know when they discussed the derivation, the status quo and the future of the conflict a few hours earlier. Gysi’s alleged attempts at appeasement caused his counterpart to shake his head several times (and for several interruptions from moderator Lanz).
The guests
- Gregor Gysi, politician
- Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, politician
Gysi: “The West isn’t honest either”
When asked that he still considered a war unlikely on February 18, 2022, Gysi replied: “I don’t believe in it and I still hope that we will prevent it.” The politician repeatedly argued from a legal point of view and spoke of a breach of international law According to Gysi, he didn’t want to justify Putin’s behavior under any circumstances – but then admitted: “But the West isn’t honest either and bears some of the blame for it”.
Specifically, Gysi named the Yugoslav war, the Iraq war and Turkey’s invasion of Syria, with which the West had discredited itself. “I’m only saying that because Putin and others thought at the time: ‘If they no longer respect international law, then I won’t do it either’.” That evening, Gysi alternated between criticism of Russia — but also, to a certain extent, relativization of the situation: “The mainstream agrees that Russia is to blame for everything.”
Graf Lambsdorff: “Warlike policy against own interests”
Lambsdorff, on the other hand, emphasized Russia’s breach of the Budapest Memorandum – and spoke about Putin’s accusation that Ukraine was aiming for weapons of mass destruction. The opposite is the case: “Ukraine had weapons of mass destruction and had handed them over to Russia in 1994. In return, Russia had guaranteed that we would protect your territorial identity,” said the FDP politician.
Then he added: “A country like Ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons and is now vulnerable, vulnerable, being torn apart. What kind of signal does that send to other countries in the world about nuclear weapons?” That is a fatal signal. Russia is also pursuing “a warlike policy against its own interests” – after all, other nuclear powers are definitely not in the country’s interests.
“The Russians really like to play chess,” Lambsdorff attested – and explained that it could no longer be about outrage that Russia is not telling the truth. “We cannot get angry or upset that the Russian side is lying. We must try to decipher the messages contained in the lies. I must see the message in the untruth,” he said.
“Just saying no is not enough”
For the diplomat, however, one thing is certain: “Ukraine has not provoked or attacked Russia. It has no weapons of mass destruction. This is a massive breach of international law by waging a war of aggression.”
According to the FDP politician, Putin has carried out a successful reform of the Russian armed forces over the past ten years. He now feels strong enough to step out of the frozen conflict phase.
Gysi, on the other hand, stated several times that he would have negotiated differently – and commented: “Just saying no is simply not enough”. However, he continues to hold onto the hope that Putin will simply play the game of political poker very high – in order to then sell the actually desired result to the West as a compromise. That Putin further than that Annexation from Donbass Gysi did not believe that he would go – and after the declaration that Ukraine had also violated the “Minsk II” agreement, he appealed once more: “Now we must not rule out diplomacy and a reconciliation of interests”.
A few hours later, Russia’s large-scale attack on various targets in Ukraine proved otherwise.