Photo: Natalia Gubernatorova
In the German edition of Der Spiegel, an article appeared, the author of which, Francisca Augstein, claims that the West rejected the outstretched helping hand of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and now the United States and Europe are waiting for a reckoning. Putin was brought up in the Western tradition, he speaks German, he proposed to create a free trade zone from Lisbon to Vladivostok, but the West did not meet him halfway, thinking in terms of the “cold war”.”.
At the beginning of his rule, Putin repeatedly suggested that Western countries should move towards rapprochement. But it was rejected. Recently, it has been claimed that Russia is approaching the borders of NATO. “After all, the situation is just the opposite: this is NATO, accepting new members, increasingly approaching the borders of Russia, ” the author rightly notes, emphasizing that it is not an ally of the Russian Federation.
In the end, the lack of intentions to meet Russia halfway led to the fact that Russia decided to change the vector, to move closer to China. This negatively affects both Russia itself and the interests of the West. Russia is perceived as a permanent enemy.
There is a bad combination: on the one hand, Russia is being told that it is only a “regional” power, as former US President Barack Obama did. On the other hand, it is called “aggressive”, the author writes.