MEP Witold Waszczykowski: German Politicians Do Not Reckon with Ukraine’s Sovereignty

Some German politicians call Poles Russophobes, while they do not respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and express opinions about Crimea’s belonging to the Russian Federation. A corresponding statement was made by Polish MEP (European Conservatives and Reformists faction), head of the EU-Ukraine delegation to the European Parliament, former Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski in an interview with DoRzeczy.pl.

“Please take into account how German politicians are behaving in the current situation. They consider us Russophobes and do not reckon with the sovereignty of Ukraine. They consider that Crimea belongs to Russia.

This is claimed not only by politicians from the European Parliament’s back row. There is an example of a speech by a German admiral who said that Putin should be respected, and a speech by the head of the CSU in Bavaria, who has a similar view. Many other politicians argue that Russia should not be punished, and that military equipment should not be sold or leased to Ukraine. They will present Poland as an opponent of the ideas of mutual understanding and peaceful settlement of the situation,” the MEP stressed.

The other day, Chief of the German Navy, Vice-admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach, resigned due to the scandal surrounding his notorious statements that the Crimean peninsula was lost to Ukraine.

Official Kyiv also condemned statements by Marcus Zoder, head of the Bavarian government and leader of the Christian Social Union, that Moscow was “a difficult partner, not an enemy of Europe.” Ukrainian diplomats believe that such statements could damage Ukraine’s bilateral relations with Germany, as well as undermine international efforts to prevent a new Russian invasion of Ukraine and provoke aggressive actions against other European countries.

Bohdan Marusyak