Comment: Understand the true goals of Moscow | Comments from DW Reviewers and Guest Contributors

When talks between the United States and Russia begin in Geneva on Monday, January 10, the talk could be about war and peace in Europe. But Europe is not represented at the negotiating table. If everything went according to the plan of the Russian leadership, it would, over the heads of the Europeans, agree with the Americans on a new security order for the entire continent.

Reinhard Fezer

The threat posed by the Kremlin by deploying troops on the border with Ukraine should have prompted Washington to begin negotiations. At the same time, Moscow, having published confidential correspondence, non-diplomatically made it clear to the Europeans that it was no longer interested in further negotiations with them on the war in Ukraine.

Now Berlin, Paris and Brussels are trying to jump on the bandwagon of the departing train with the help of hasty diplomatic initiatives. But we must clearly understand: there are chances of success only if such initiatives are based on a realistic perception of the Russian regime. The Kremlin is not only interested in Ukraine. For him, she is a scene of a large-scale confrontation with the West. Now it is not about mediating a conflict somewhere in Eastern Europe, but about upholding the rights of the EU in the face of an aggressive dictatorship.

By Reinhard Feser, columnist for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Without the right to reprint. © Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, Frankfurt am Main.

Сайт газеты Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The commentary expresses the personal opinion of the author. It may not coincide with the opinion of the Russian editorial staff and Deutsche Welle in general.

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