“I’m done with the Putin regime”
Gysi is against arms deliveries to Ukraine
05/08/2022, 04:40 am
On the one hand, Gregor Gysi sharply criticizes the Kremlin. But the left-wing politician rejects arms deliveries to Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia. He refers to the victims of the Second World War. Germany should not arm one ex-Soviet republic against the other.
At the end of a multi-day trip to Ukraine, left-wing foreign politician Gregor Gysi spoke out against German arms deliveries to the country attacked by Russia. “We caused 27 million deaths in the Soviet Union during World War II, mostly Russians,” said Gysi. “In second place are the killed Ukrainians and then people of other nationalities.” According to Gysi, Germany should not arm one ex-Soviet republic against the other.
Of course, Ukraine has the right to defend itself and import weapons, said the 74-year-old. Nor was it Germany’s job to decide how to bring the war to an end. If the Ukrainian government wants to reach a compromise with the Kremlin, the federal government cannot forbid it. “I can only hope that Russia and Ukraine will agree on a ceasefire as soon as possible.”
At the same time, Gysi criticized the Kremlin in clear terms: “I’m done with the Putin regime.” But he also stressed that there will be a Russia after the current President Vladimir Putin. It is therefore wrong to burn all bridges.
According to his own statements, Gysi visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the western Ukrainian city of Lviv during his trip. He was also in the Kiev suburb of Bucha, where the bodies of hundreds of murdered civilians were found a few weeks ago. “Especially when you go to a war zone, such a hush-hush visit for the media is out of the question,” he said, referring to relatively short visits by other international politicians to Ukraine in recent days.