Many In Germany Still Have Misperception About Who Putin Really Is Expert

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) This opinion was expressed in a comment to Ukrinform by German analyst Hans-Jochen Schmidt, former ambassador of Germany to Armenia and former staff member of the German Embassy in Kyiv.

“We have, unfortunately, a misperception about the character of Putin. I think there were only a few Germans who analyzed Putin correctly from the beginning,” Schmidt said.

According to him, the best example of this was the reaction to Putin's speech in the Bundestag in 2001. A lot of people applauded the then-young politician and rose to its feet after his address. Only one member of parliament remained seated. He has since passed away.

Even after the start of Putin's war against Ukraine in 2014, there was no full understanding of his true nature. Since that year, Germany and Europe have made certain mistakes, Schmidt believes, due to illusions about the Minsk I and II agreements.

“For example, we waited three days to sign these agreements at that time, and we should never have given in, because it was already at that time a mistake. It was clear why the Russians and the separatists were not willing to sign-because they wanted to take advantage of attacking one of the crossroads of logistical importance. Then, unfortunately, we had illusions about what was going on behind. We had the OSCE monitoring, but the OSCE was not allowed to monitor beyond. And therefore, we did not know exactly what was happening behind. And the population here, I think, had enormous misconceptions about how aggressively and how brutally Putin went ahead,” Schmidt said.

Read also: Expert says Russia long uses word“peace” to justify aggression, Poles understand this

Regarding the current response of European allies to Putin's actions and provocations-specifically the launch of drones over Polish territory and the appearance of Russian aircraft in NATO airspace-he believes it is insufficient.

“What is, in a certain way, a pity is that we are not able, for example, to create a kind of no-fly zone for certain reasons. But I think we have to respond to these attacks in a more persuasive manner. We missed several chances. From the beginning, unfortunately-and that is, of course, disenchanting for the Ukrainian population,” the diplomat noted.

At present, he believes it is essential to focus on destroying logistical bases located deeper within Russian territory, further away the front lines. Maximum effort should also be made to eliminate production facilities, as this would help prevent Russia from using these drone swarms that pose a serious threat not only to the Ukrainian population but also to the European population.

As reported earlier, around 20 Russian drones recently crossed the airspace of the Republic of Poland. Later, Russian aircraft flew at low altitude over a Polish platform in the Baltic Sea, while other planes entered Estonian airspace. Subsequently, Germany had to scramble its interceptors in response to the appearance of a Russian aircraft over the Baltic.

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