Chairman of the Munich Conference: We did not realize the historical significance of Putin's speech
The West made a fatal mistake when it proposed in 2008 to initiate the entry of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO.
Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, which Russian officials refused to attend this year, stated this in an interview with Kommersant, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, explaining that the event's organizers have ceased to take a neutral position.
The publication recalled that Vladimir Putin’s famous “Munich speech” turned 15 last week, and asked whether the West’s reluctance to take the Russian leader’s words seriously was a mistake.
“Yes, and I have said this many times. This is my criticism of ourselves, of Western governments. At that time, as a participant in the conference, I sat in the hall and listened very carefully to this speech. But I admit that I myself and many of my colleagues, apparently, did not then realize its political and historical significance, and therefore did not draw the right conclusions. The USA especially underestimated it. Otherwise, in 2008 they would not have proposed to initiate the process of admitting Ukraine and Georgia to NATO. It was obvious to me then, and it was obvious to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that this step violates Russian “red lines,” Ischinger admitted.
He said that since then he had repeatedly tried to convince Putin to come to Munich again.
“Now, 15 years after his speech, he would have a good opportunity to re-present his view of what was happening. This could even be done online from Moscow. He wouldn't even have to leave the Kremlin. This also applies to Sergei Lavrov,” added the chairman of the Munich Conference.
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