05/04/2024 – Translated from Ukrainian via Google and OFP
Putin’s Russia, which has returned to an imperial perception of the world, is the biggest existential threat to Europe, and Europeans need to know that Russian troops will be on Poland’s borders.
This was stated by EU High Representative Josep Borrell during a speech at Oxford University regarding the security situation in the world, the correspondent of Ukrinform reports.
“Today, Putin is an existential threat to all of us. If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he will not stop there. The prospect that a puppet government will be formed in Kyiv, as happened in Belarus, when Russian troops will be on the borders of Poland, and Russia will control 44 percent of the world grain market, is something that Europeans should be aware of,” the head of the diplomatic service noted. EU services.
He emphasized that the Europeans wanted to create a circle of friends around them, but instead they got a circle of fire that stretches from the Sahel countries to the Middle East, from the Caucasus to the current battlefield in Ukraine. According to him, the international system that developed after the “Cold War” no longer exists. America has lost its status as a hegemon, and the multilateral order established after 1945 is losing its foundations. In these conditions, according to Borrell, there is a real threat that Europe itself, as it is known today, may die, which requires immediate action from Europeans.
“First of all, we have to make a clear assessment of the danger from Russia, it is Russia that is considered the greatest existential threat to Europe. Perhaps not everyone in the European Council agrees with this, but most support the idea. Russia is an existential threat to us, and we must keep our eyes open in assessing this risk,” said the high-ranking EU representative.
He noted that under Putin’s leadership, Russia has returned to an imperialist understanding of the world. In his opinion, the imperial Russia of the tsarist and Soviet times was rehabilitated by Putin, who dreamed of its former size and influence.
“It was Georgia in 2008. It was Crimea in 2014. We didn’t see, or didn’t want to see, the evolution of Russia under Putin’s watch. Even though Putin himself warned us at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. It is important to re-read what Putin said in 2007 during the security conference in Munich – something that, I’m afraid, no one wanted to hear or understand,” Borrell said.
He noted that Europe has developed a model of relations based on cooperation and mutual economic dependence. Within the EU, it was a great success and allowed to ensure 70 years of peace between European countries. Europeans were convinced that such mutual dependence could also lead to political changes in Russia and even in China. But such a belief was wrong, and such changes did not occur. In the face of Russian authoritarianism, mutual dependence did not bring peace. On the contrary, it has turned into a dependency, particularly on fossil fuels, and this dependency has been turned into a weapon.
According to the high representative of the EU, more and more European leaders are aware of this threat. Even French President Emmanuel Macron, who has always urged “not to humiliate Russia”, warns of global consequences if Russia succeeds in winning in Ukraine. Such warnings also come from other countries of the world, for example, from Japan.
But in the European Union itself, Borrell noted, not everyone shares this assessment. Some of the European leaders declare that Russia is not an existential threat to them, on the contrary, they consider Russia a “good friend”.
“The European Union is governed by the majority, our policy towards Russia is always at risk when one vote is enough for a veto, as (Hungarian Prime Minister) Viktor Orbán proved when he delayed our recent aid package for Ukraine. At the same time, political polarization in the United States delayed the military aid package (for Ukraine) for half a year. In the midst of a war, half a year is a very long time. It can be the difference between winning and losing a war,” Borrell emphasized.
As reported, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the European Union has provided substantial political, economic, financial, military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. In December 2023, EU leaders could not reach a consensus on the decision to create a Ukrainian fund in the amount of 50 billion euros for 2024-2027 in the multi-year EU budget, as Hungary opposed such a decision. The aforementioned financial aid package for Ukraine was approved only on February 1, 2024, during a special meeting of the European Council.
“First of all, we have to make a clear assessment of the danger from Russia, it is Russia that is considered the greatest existential threat to Europe. ”
Just WTF have you been doing for these last two years? We assessed the threat from the mafia state 10 years ago. Don’t you think the time for meaningless statements should be replaced by some action?
There have been many warnings issued by various people during the course of this war, about the dire consequences of a mafia victory. I often wonder if any of it reaches the minds of Western leaders. Seeing the incessant too little, too late methodology, it seems that a termite has a better chance getting through a slab of steel than this obvious logic through some people’s thick skulls.
Ben Hodges said in an interview yesterday, that fear in the West is dictating this war. He was ashamed by the cowardliness of our so called leaders that cringe with fear every time Putler mentions nukes.
Alas, how many times have we said basically the same thing? And this since 2014.
With Konigsberg, and Belarussia, Poland already has rashists on it’s borders. When will NATO and the West realize that we are already at war with ruzzia.
I’m glad you called it Königsberg -its real name – and not Kaliningrad. The Polish variant would also be fine.
When the sun sets in the East.