BERLIN, December 19. /TASS/. Western countries should have paid more attention to Russia's boundaries regarding Ukraine, then the special military operation could have been avoided, Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance - Reason and Justice party, said.
"This war could definitely have been avoided if more attention had been paid to not crossing the Russians' red lines. These red lines were always there, the Russians were against the presence of Western servicemen, against US military facilities near their borders. Their (boundaries - TASS) can be considered legitimate or not, but it would have been better, considerable suffering could have been prevented, if it [the West] had respected them," Wagenknecht said in an interview with the ZDF TV channel.
Wagenknecht will be her party's candidate for chancellor in the upcoming snap Bundestag elections, which are expected to be held in February 2025. In an interview focusing primarily on this issue, the ZDF journalist recalled that Wagenknecht had said in the lead-up that she did not believe hostilities would begin in Ukraine. Wagenknecht responded by saying that the German Federal Intelligence Service had made the same assessment, but admitted that she was wrong because she considered the Russian military maneuvers near Ukraine's borders to be an "act of intimidation."
She added, however, that not only she but also many Western diplomats warned at the time that "further attempts by the United States to draw Ukraine into its zone of military influence, to place military bases, military facilities, CIA bases in Ukraine, which have taken place, substantially increase the risk of war." "Therefore, it is important to do everything to ensure that, on the one hand, Ukraine receives security guarantees and, on the other hand, that these tensions are reduced. We must not slide into a new global arms race. We need disarmament and arms control," the politician added.
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance - Reason and Justice party had earlier decided to nominate Wagenknecht as its candidate for chancellor in the upcoming elections. This is an informal status given to the leaders of party lists in Germany, as the leader of the winning political force usually becomes chancellor. At the same time, Wagenknecht has virtually no chance of leading the German government, as support for her party currently stands at 6% of the total number of voters. The main message of her campaign remains the achievement of peace in Europe; Wagenknecht regularly criticizes the German authorities for sending weapons to Kiev.