Karsten Dietrich Voigt, the member of the Presidium of the German Council for Foreign Policy and former chairman of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (1994-96), says Russia is not interested in strong Ukraine but wants to be a dominant power, therefore, directly or indirectly, trying to implement its own all-encompassing policy options in the region.
This statement Voigt made in his interview with Ukrainian Espreso TV channel.
He said without a military force Russia would not give up on Crimea, nor would it abandon its sphere of influence in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Statements that the current conflict will a long-term one are unpleasant but quite realistic, Voigt emphasized.
He added that he sometimes compares this situation with the situation in Berlin when the conflict lasted for decades. At that time, the Soviet Union was implementing its interests and expanding its sphere of influence. Even though the German problems could be solved, he said, after many years they remained unresolved. Voigt stresses the two situations are not identical, but one of the preconditions to tackle the current problems could be Russia`s understanding that it has got stuck in a dead end, according to Voigt.
