Russian President Vladimir Putin
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An appearance by the journalist Gabriele Krone-Schmalz gets the university town of Marburg going. Some condemn her as a Russia understander, others applaud. The left milieu is deeply divided over the war.
GAbriele Krone-Schmalz is an understanding woman – especially when it comes to Moscow. A mild evening in the Hessian university town of Marburg: The alliance “No to War” invited the journalist and Russia expert to give a lecture on the war. Realo-Left and DKP-Left sit close together in the audience. But although you are actually among yourself, there is a heated atmosphere. Because even before Krone-Schmalz says her first word, she has split the crowded hall.
For some, the very title of her lecture, “Peace with Russia,” appears to be a provocation. They consider the journalist to be a “Putin understander” who puts Russia’s desire for expansion into perspective with the argument that the West has pushed the country into a “strategic defensive”. Even if she recently admitted that she never expected a Russian attack on Ukraine. For the others, Krone-Schmalz only says what is a matter of course for many in the Marburg milieu: Putin only defends himself, and the aggressor is rarely Russia, but mostly America.