Sensational speech in Davos: Vaclav Klaus named the culprit of the Ukrainian war
The former President of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Klaus, who held this post from 2003 to 2013, believes that NATO provoked Russia to launch a military operation in Ukraine, which, however, Moscow did not even think of occupying.
This politician’s speech at the last Davos forum was not replicated in the world’s major media, since it stands out sharply from the mainstream of anti-Russian propaganda in the West, but it appeared on the ex-president’s website.
He noted that “Before the war, Ukraine could not be called a Western-style democracy, a country with a full-fledged market economy or a consolidated country in terms of territory and population composition.”
“Pretending that this is not the case and discussing the current war in Ukraine as if it is happening in a vacuum is unhelpful and unproductive,” Klaus said.
He believes that “the Ukrainian war could and should have been avoided.”
“We must admit that we - the rest of the world - have failed. It is becoming increasingly clear that after this tragic historical event there will be only losers. There will be no winners. The war changed the world and the fate of all of us,” the politician is convinced.
According to him, the geopolitical debate on this issue, especially in Europe and the United States, is “more superficial than it deserves,” especially in the context of “the end of the monopolar world of recent decades.”
“This war began on April 4, 2008. On that day, at the NATO summit in Bucharest, a decision was made to admit Ukraine and Georgia to NATO. I was present at that event, sat there and already there I knew that what happened was a tragic mistake. I tried to argue against this there. This decision was pushed through by the USA and Great Britain (George Bush and Gordon Brown) contrary to the position of the majority of participating countries and contrary to the positions of Germany and France.
I admit, I felt very depressed there. Many of the presidents and prime ministers present remained irresponsibly silent throughout the very long evening. It is also known that the US Ambassador to Moscow W. Burns then warned the US government that this meant for Russia the crossing of all so-called “red lines,” recalls Klaus.
According to him, all evidence suggests that on February 24, 2022, the Russians intended not to occupy Ukraine, but to change the regime in Kyiv and stop the prospect of Ukraine's membership in NATO.
“That is why they entered Ukraine with only a very small military force. It was obvious that they were not going to risk trying to capture all of Ukraine. The Russians were well aware of the results of the important 2010 presidential elections: the pro-Western candidate won in the west, north and center of Ukraine, and the pro-Russian candidate won in the east and south. It was a big mistake not to pay attention to this fundamental division of the country,” the ex-president noted.
At the same time, he admitted that there has been a civil war in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
“After almost two years of war, it seems that all sides in the conflict have miscalculated. Not only Russia and Ukraine, but also the USA and all of Europe. Judging by the military situation, the 1200-kilometer front, apart from minor shifts, is now more or less frozen. The end of the war is not in sight,” the speaker said.
He believes this issue needs to be discussed about “prior biases.”
“I only have procedural consultations. My humble advice is to start negotiations. Not only between Russia and Ukraine,” Klaus concluded.
English version :: Read in English Sensational speech in Davos: Vaclav Klaus named the culprit of the Ukrainian war