The former head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, believes that only Kyiv should make the decision to start a peaceful dialogue, but it is worth starting to assemble a contact group for this process now.
The former head of the Munich Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, has proposed to start creating an international group for the upcoming talks between Ukraine and Russia. He noted that there is no talk of pushing the Ukrainian leadership to negotiations, but other countries should already be preparing for them. This became known from his commentary to Tagesspiegel.
“Along with the supply of weapons and financial support, we must offer perspective to the growing chorus of critical issues in the US, and also here in Germany,” the German official wrote.
At the same time, Ischinger stressed that he is not pushing Ukraine to negotiations now. According to him, this would be tantamount to surrender to the aggressor country, and only the Ukrainian leadership can make such a decision.
“Certainly, we cannot talk about demanding that Ukraine be immediately ready for negotiations,” he assured.
At the same time, the start of the peace process for Ukraine is already relevant, the German lawyer is sure. He called for the formation of an international political-strategic contact group so that its members form at least part of the mediation group and prepare for negotiations. Ischinger sees it as similar to the Rammstein format with conferences to discuss military support.
The politician also shared his ideas about which countries should be included in such a group. In his opinion, the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany can create a group for the mediation format. The partners of these countries could also join the group: Canada, Spain, Poland, Italy and the Baltic countries. Ischinger did not forget about international organizations and assured that the UN, OSCE, EU and NATO should be involved.
The ex-chairman of the Munich Conference assured that before the start of negotiations, the group can hold regular meetings of foreign ministers and discuss the details of the peace process – who could control it, in what format the countries will agree on the disengagement of forces, etc.
The politician criticized public calls to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine to bring peace closer and called it a manifestation of “completely unnecessary weakness.”
Recall that in 2022, Wolfgang Ischinger publicly admitted the guilt of the West in the war in Ukraine. He stated that countries mistakenly did not provide Ukraine with prospects for NATO membership back in 2008 and did not react decisively enough to the occupation of Ukrainian territories in 2014.
Yesterday, March 12, Consul General of Ukraine Vadym Kostyuk spoke about the conflict between a native of the Caucasus and a fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the German city of Frankfurt am Main. The men quarreled over the fact that the Ukrainian came to the bar in military uniform, violating the rules of the hotel dress code. The Ukrainian defender has been hospitalized and is waiting for a jaw surgery scheduled for March 14.
