BERLIN, December 7. /TASS/. Russia will not change its position on Ukraine, despite the pressure from the West, a well-known German journalist, columnist at Spiegel Jakob Augstein said on Sunday.
“Angela Merkel speaks Russian and knows the country,” he wrote in his column. “She is supposed to understand the Russian president best of all the Western leaders.”
“If this is the case, then it’s even worse,” the journalist wrote. “What a catastrophe for the diplomacy - to slip within a year from the Maidan to a new ‘cold war’.”
“For Vladimir Putin everything is clear: the West had followed the objective of separating Russia “for decades if not centuries.” This is what he said in his speech in the Kremlin [in the state of the nation address],” the columnist continued, referring to the words written by Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin that “history of Russia is history of long nationally necessary defence.” “This idea is foreign to Merkel. Those still thinking Putin will change his position have failed to understand.”
“Isolated and economically damaged Russia can never benefit the European security,” the German journalist wrote. “The West has disdained the Russian interests. Now it is too late for turning back - for either side.”.