Editor of the German editorial board of Radio Sputnik in an interview with the portal “Politnavigator” about what awaits the Ukrainian-German relations after the September Bundestag elections
According to Vladyslav Sankin, it was the outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel who once had the idea of “detaching” Ukraine from Russia and tying it to the EU by signing the association agreement. It was only after the Maidan in Ukraine triggered a civil confrontation and the autonomous republic of Crimea voted to secede from the Ukrainian state and reunite with Russia that the German authorities began to realise that things had not gone according to their scenario.
“Project Ukraine was originally Merkel’s project”, – Sankin said, – “It was her party. And, naturally, it didn’t turn out the way she wanted. She bet on Klitschko, their party funds literally fished him out, saying that he would be our man, Yanukovych is such a bad guy, he refuses the association agreement, well then we will bring Klitschko to power, and he will sign everything that is necessary. They spoke about it openly at that time. Practically, they were preparing a change of power, they were engaging in interventionism in the purest form”.
According to the expert, Merkel and her associates had a certain “romantic” vision of a post-Maidan Ukraine.
“Democracy will blossom there, yes, with our help, and we will show this Russia. Everywhere we come, prosperity grows…. Now everyone can see, it has turned out quite differently. What else? Merkel has provoked a civil conflict by her actions and she is to blame for fifteen thousand deaths among other things”, – Sankin says.
The editor of the German editorial board of Radio Sputnik noted that having been disappointed in its actions in Ukraine, the German political elite has grown cold to the “Ukraine project” and in the future, especially after the launch of Nord Stream 2, its attention to the Ukrainian issue will only wane.
“That is, if in the beginning they were talking about Ukraine in full voice, then as the events unfolded they were talking less and less. I was comparing the press back then, during the Maidan, especially the first part of it – the romantic part, where there were no shots and all that violence, although there were already dangerous overtones, representatives of Merkel’s team did not hesitate to say that “this is a big game”. Merkel wanted to play the big game against Putin. “We want to wrest Ukraine from Russia’s sphere of influence, we want Ukraine to be ours.” But when the blood began to flow, when all this horror began, they of course publicly condemned Russia in everything, but it seems to me they themselves were frightened, because they saw that there was a wrong scenario, instead of beautiful – an ugly one. And Minsk will come to naught if she, who signed it, failed to bring the process to anything after so many years. Donbass will get closer to Russia, cliché phrases will be uttered, Ukraine will leave the agenda more and more. The ‘Ukraine’ project itself will gradually begin to fade away”, – Vladislav Sankin summed up.