Analysis of an Italian expert

Author: Francesca Traldi, Independent expert, Italy

“This is a terrible day for Ukraine and a dark day for Europe. The Russian attack on Ukraine is a massive violation of international law. Nothing can justify it. Germany condemns this reckless act of President Putin in the strongest possible terms.” This was Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s first statement following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in which he then called on Moscow to put an immediate end to the offensive.

Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) added: “We are witnessing a land war in Europe that we thought we would only find in history books. This is a shameful violation of international law, for which we express our absolute condemnation. For Russia, this attack will have serious political and economic consequences”.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says: ‘With its attack on Ukraine, Russia is breaking the most basic rules of international order. The world community will ensure that Russia does not forget this ‘day of shame’. At this moment we would like to express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people”. Opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) also joined the unanimous chorus: “This is not only a war against Ukraine, it is a war against democracy, against our freedom”.

At the moment German politics is showing its full shock, since until the end it was hoped that logic would prevail in the Russian President. But after Putin’s vitriolic speech, governments have had to admit that, in the immediate future, rationality will serve little purpose with Moscow.

The anger in the federal government is great, because Germany itself had done everything to achieve de-escalation. Reactions have been strong. President Frank Walter Steinmeier accused Putin of violating international law and ‘destroying the Minsk agreement’, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz followed up on President Steinmeier’s remarks by saying that ‘Russia will not receive any support in the world for its actions’. It is now up to the international community to show a response to these ‘unilateral, incomprehensible and unjustified actions’. We will therefore need ‘concerted, well-coordinated and goal-oriented strategies to send a clear signal to Moscow that such actions will not go unanswered’, Scholz said.

The German government has already done its part by stopping the certification of the controversial German-Russian Baltic Sea gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, thus blocking its launch. Within the government, it was mainly the Greens who pushed for an end to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The pipeline has long been a bone of contention between Berlin and Washington, with the Biden government warning Germany against excessive dependence on gas supplies from Russia. Given the terrible escalation, Berlin is now also preparing for a strong wave of refugees.