Interference Is Necessary!: Self-Deception among Putin's Friends Must Stop

In: Osteuropa, Band 63, Heft 4

Abstract

Alongside representatives of the business world, many Social Democrats reject criticism of President Vladimir Putin's Russia and its record on human rights. They see in this criticism 'attitudes of moral superiority' and a 'know-it-all mind-set'. German guilt for the war urges modesty, as they see it. Dialogue with the Kremlin is for them an obligation. They see themselves in the tradition of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik. But this is wrong. This kind of thinking is based on a fatal interpretation of detente, which of course gambled precisely on social change. Germany's historical responsibility must not be abused to keep us from calling an authoritarian president authoritarian or from accepting the criminalisation of partners as agents. The extreme closeness of German-Russian relations requires intervention. It is necessary to limit the damage that the Putin regime is inflicting on Russia. Adapted from the source document.