Former Czech president Vaclav Klaus argues that the war in Ukraine stems from divisions between the West and Russia, which led to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin committing a “tragic mistake” with repercussions for “years and years”.
In an interview with Lusa, the former Czech politician maintained that the conflict did not start in 2022 with the Russian invasion, but goes back to earlier events and to “a confrontation between the West and Russia” of which Ukraine is both a victim and an instrument and “probably did not deserve it”.
“It is a pity that the West has chosen Ukraine as the place to demonstrate its division with Russia, to demonstrate its strengths,” said Klaus on the sidelines of the Estoril Conferences, organized by Nova SBE in Carcavelos (Cascais), where he was a speaker.
Former Czech prime minister between 1993 and 1997, after the fall of the communist regime and in the phase marking the separation from Czechoslovakia, and successor to Vaclav Havel as president between 2003 and 2013, the 82-year-old former statesman said: Ukraine has always had a country seemed “very confused” and what existed before the Russian invasion “was not peace”, but “a crazy and untenable situation” since 2014, the year when Russia illegally annexed Crimea and a pro-Russian insurgency broke out in the country , Donbass, in the east of the country.
Informed, the Czech politician denounced Ukraine as “a political, economic and social failure” and unable to make the transition from Soviet totalitarianism, accusing Western countries of irresponsibility in creating an illusion among “Ukrainian radicals” by challenging them to choose between the West and Russia.
Nearly a decade later, Vaclav Klaus maintains his assessment of that scenario, which he does not confuse with the impossibility of predicting what would follow, but which nevertheless resulted in “Russia being under great pressure” and Vladimir Putin being “a tragedy of mistakes.” in February last year”.
As a result of the invasion, Ukraine has continued to resist Russian forces for more than a year and a half, NATO has expanded and adopted full military support for Kiev, the capital increasingly closer to a European Union than the former Czech leader, known acknowledges that, because of his eurosceptic views, he has emerged more united, although not necessarily stronger.
According to the Czech politician, it is now clear that the Russian president made several “miscalculations” and one of them was that he expected something similar to the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviets and Warsaw Pact allies, to support the Spring Reform Movement in Prague. to scare off. when Klaus already had a degree in economics and was a researcher at the Academy of Sciences.
“Probably, [Putin] he supposed he would go the same easy way, without any defenses. But the comparison is a bit misleading, because times were completely different in the 1960s and now,” he noted.
The comparison also leads to differences between a rational perspective and ‘playing with feelings’, via ‘simplified, forgotten or misinterpreted memories’, in which Czechs who remember the invasion of Czechoslovakia have ‘a false conscience that they did not fight and have not defended. “the country during the historic events of 1968.
After the invasion of Ukraine, “they almost feel that they are now fighting for what they didn’t do 50 years ago,” according to Vaclav Klaus, which translates to “the most important feeling in the Czech Republic today” and the main reason to support the Ukrainians in an expressive way help and welcomes a large number of refugees compared to the population.
“But that’s not the way to solve the problem, that’s the way to prolong the conflict,” defended the former ruler, ignoring the logical way out to peace but noting that he will have to find a way to, through dialogue, ????, stop the fighting and the permanent supply of weapons from the West to Kiev.
“I fear that the fighting will continue for years and years, killing many people, and the country will be destroyed,” he said, seeing no alternative but negotiations, at different levels and not just between the two warring sides , but also between the two warring parties. also between the West and Russia.
Klaus met Vladimir Putin when he was president of the Czech Republic, but he assured that he never spoke privately with the then Russian counterpart about matters other than those on the agenda, not least because he said it was not his style to talk to foreign to treat politicians as they did. first name and that neither did the Kremlin leader.
“He is only focused on political issues. He won’t talk about anything else, he won’t say it’s sunny or snowing,” he recalled, noting that this direct profile, on the other hand, can be seen as “an opportunity for serious conversations and not just friendly conversations or unfriendly conversations” .
Source: DN
