Putin wants to restore USSR. Russia will not stop at Ukraine, - Merz
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that appeasing Russia could lead to a larger-scale war in Europe.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by DW.
"Putin will not stop. And if Ukraine falls, he will not stop," the chancellor said on Saturday, December 13, in Munich at the party congress of the Christian Social Union (CSU), which, together with his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), forms the governing coalition.
Merz stated that Putin is interested in "fundamentally changing the borders in Europe" and restoring the Soviet Union within its former borders. In his opinion, this poses "a huge threat, including a military one, to countries that were once part of this empire."
Merz compared Putin's policies to those of 1938
The chancellor assessed historical analogies regarding foreign policy. In his opinion, it is wrong to use the First World War of 1914 as an example, while the events of 1938 and the Munich Agreement are more relevant.
"Then Adolf Hitler saw that his imperial expansionist ambitions were being reinforced by the appeasement policy of European states, and a year later he started World War II," Merz explained.
Merz stated that continued assistance to Ukraine and European unity in cooperation with the United Kingdom remain key priorities of foreign and security policy.
He also stressed the importance of preserving NATO and its effectiveness, which, in his opinion, has repeatedly been questioned by US President Donald Trump.
It is important to preserve NATO for as long as possible," Merz said.
Merz noted "an almost tectonic shift in global political and economic centers of power." Germans and Europeans are "right in the middle of this process" and, like the US, must defend their interests, the chancellor believes.
