In the German daily – a call to Europe: so far only Lithuania has taken a bold step
“During the five years of the war in Ukraine, Russia destroyed hundreds of hospitals, schools, apartment buildings and a shopping center, thus systematically violating the international law of war. Putin’s regime actually commits crimes that must clearly be labeled as state terrorism”, C. Wergin, head of the Washington office of the newspaper “Die Welt”, appeals to politicians.
“The purpose of terrorism is to spread fear and terror in the attacked society in order to achieve political goals that cannot be realized by other means. This is exactly what Russia is doing in Ukraine,” he said.
It doesn’t really differ from MS
According to C. Wergin, Russia does not differ from IS in its behavior in Ukraine: “Who is throwing bombs on the theater in Mariupol, which was marked in large letters as a place of refuge for children, who is using the same method as Al-Qaeda, which sent planes to the World Trade Center .
“And the army, which systematically destroys hospitals and schools, shoots, rapes or tortures captured civilians, is morally equivalent to the IS terrorists who ran rampant in Paris, in the Bataclan concert hall, like a gang of killers, and who the world will remember as the group whose calling card beheading prisoners in front of the cells became a card,” writes C. Werginas.
“Russia is acting like a terrorist gang in Ukraine, disregarding international norms with nihilistic cynicism. That’s why it’s time for Western politics and parliament to make it clear.”
Follow the example of brave Lithuania
The author of the comment reminds that during the week the US Senate for the first time called on the State Department to assign Russia to the category of states that support terrorism.
“Something similar should happen in Europe, where so far only brave Lithuania has taken such a step. It would be high time for Europe to name Russia as a terrorist state”, writes the author.
He does not understand why it is not even seriously discussed in Europe.
“The so-called realists like to repeat that harsh words will only block communications with the Moscow channel and reduce the likelihood of a diplomatic agreement. However, it was our decades-long silence that created the conditions for the war to start,” C. Werginas reproaches, who has consistently criticized Russia’s policy of condescension before.
Cowardice encouraged Russian aggressiveness
“After all, since V. Putin became the prime minister and then the president, he committed war crimes – from the complete destruction of Grozny in 1999. until 2008 war in Georgia, 2014 war in Ukraine, 2015 “In Syria and new invasions of Ukraine”. The West’s reluctance in the past to even name Russia’s terrorist tactics has led the Russian leadership to believe that it will never be held accountable anyway – the Geneva Convention never existed.”
In a particularly disastrous case of conciliation, C. Wergin considers the negotiations to be in the Normandy format, when “France and Germany even nurtured the fiction for many years that Russia was not in 2014.” participated in the war in Ukraine, although Russian officials even publicly mocked her”.
Thus, V. Putin and his government representatives got the impression “that the weak West is more of a coward to resolutely oppose Russian militancy and war crimes. And this was the real reason for Putin’s miscalculation when ordering a new invasion of Ukraine.”
Therefore, it is time to learn from the mistakes of the past and clearly name Moscow’s crimes, Die Welt calls for comment. Which means that “the parliaments and government of Western countries should clearly identify both the genocidal nature of the Russian war, Russia’s desire to destroy the Ukrainian nation, and Russia as a terrorist state, and deal with it accordingly.”
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