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February 24, 2023
Archive image
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in conversation with the Ambassador of Ukraine, Oleksii Makeiev (archive photo)
© Sebastian Bolesch
On February 24 at 10:30 a.m., Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, together with the Ambassador of Ukraine, Oleksii Makeiev, invites you to a central event on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine at Bellevue Palace. Among the guests are representatives of all constitutional bodies as well as the diplomatic corps and committed citizens, mayors and helpers.
The Federal President opens the event with a speech. A contribution by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is then planned. There follows a panel discussion on the consequences of the war with the Ukrainian essayist and publisher Kateryna Mishchenko, the Ukrainian musician Kateryna Polischuk (Ptashka), who was taken prisoner by the Russians with the fighters in the Azov steelworks, the Ukrainian teacher Viktoria Pradiichuk, who since her escape taught at a primary school in Freiberg, and a representative of the Ukrainian military. In addition, the State Secretary at the BMZ, Jochen Flasbarth, who is the Federal Government Commissioner for the G7 platform for the reconstruction of Ukraine, and Martin Horn, Lord Mayor of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, whose city is linked to Lviv in the Ukraine as a twin city, will be discussing the matter . The moderator of the panel discussion is Sandra Maischberger.
The Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev will speak at the end. The music will be provided by Ukrainian music scholarship holders from the Barenboim Said Academy and Kateryna Polischuk (Ptashka). A photo exhibition by Ukrainian photographers with pictures from the year of the war in Ukraine will be on display in the Bellevue Palace gallery.
The event will be broadcast live on www.bundesPresident.de in German, English and Ukrainian.
Around 1,000 participants gathered on Saturday for a demonstration by the right-wing scene. Hundreds of demonstrators opposed them. “A clash between the two camps could be prevented,” said police chief Lutz Rodig. A total of around 1,900 police officers were on duty.
The preliminary balance of the police: Investigations were initiated against four participants in the right-hand elevator because of the use of license plates of unconstitutional organizations. Two other participants have to answer for violations of the assembly law.
In connection with an attempt to break through a police cordon, the police are investigating, among other things, against an 18-year-old man for breach of the peace. A police officer was pelted with a stone but was not injured. The 18-year-old suspect was arrested. A further eight people from the counter-protest are being investigated for violations of the assembly law. In addition, a 23-year-old was reported for insult and a 15-year-old youth for resisting the police.
Lula prevailed against “Donald Trump of the Tropics”.
The 77-year-old left-wing politician Lula prevailed in a runoff election in October against right-wing Jair Bolsonaro, also known as the “Donald Trump of the tropics”. Lula was sworn in on January 1st in the presence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Scholz was the first head of government to visit the new president since taking office in the capital Brasília.
Lula has committed to fighting climate change and wants to slow down the deforestation of the rainforest. Scholz promised him support and spoke of a new partnership against climate change. For the autumn, the Chancellor announced a resumption of the German-Brazilian government consultations, which were suspended after the premiere in 2015 during Bolsonaro’s government.
Brazil ‘back on the world stage’
Scholz said he wanted to open “a new chapter” in relations with the largest and most populous country in Latin America. “We are all happy that Brazil is back on the world stage,” said Scholz. “You were missed, dear Lula.” He is now looking forward to a good and long cooperation, emphasized Scholz. After these words, Lula spontaneously hugged him.
With a view to the attacks on government institutions in Brasília on January 8 this year, Scholz assured the President of his support in defending democracy. “Democrats must stand together,” he said.
On January 8, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the government district in Brasília. They briefly seized the control centers of the country’s most important branches of government: They broke into Congress, the Supreme Court and the government seat Palácio do Planalto, rioted in offices and boardrooms and left a trail of destruction in their wake. The traces were still visible when the Chancellor visited the Presidential Palace. The window front was repaired in some places with wooden panels.
How much to blame does the Russian people have for the brutal war against Ukraine?
Former oligarch and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky (59) has now sparked this debate and, surprisingly, protected the Russians. Khodorkovsky, who spent ten years in prison in Russia and has lived in exile in London since 2013, tweeted: “Stop saying the war in Ukraine was waged by Russia and the Russian people.”
It was “a war of Putin and his regime”. Saying that “Russia as a whole is at war benefits Putin and that’s not true,” said former oil tycoon and now opponent of Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin (70).
Khodorkovsky justifies his claim that the Russian people are NOT behind the war as follows:
︎ Even if “many brainwashed viewers cheer the invasion”, only “a very small part” is willing to sacrifice their lives for the war. Putin’s partial mobilization proves it: it was only necessary because, despite the high pay, not enough volunteers had signed up for military service.
Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky
︎ Khodorkovsky also does not see any warlike fanaticism among the Russians: people would parrot the propaganda because otherwise they would risk prison “or don’t know any better”. But the Russians “do not feel that this is their war.” TV ratings for propaganda programs would continue to decline and the official narrative would “fatigue” people more and more.
Expert: ‘Russians are responsible’
Is it really just Putin and his regime waging war? Khodorkovsky gathers fierce opposition to his theses.
︎ Publicist and Ukraine expert Euan MacDonald replied on Twitter: “The war in Ukraine is actually being waged by Russia, and the Russian people bear the same responsibility for Putin’s war against Ukraine as the Germans for Hitler’s wars “. the sooner they succeed in eliminating fascism in their society”.
︎ Kazakhstan-born sociology professor Azamat Yunisbai also clearly contradicted the Kremlin opponent. “The desire to portray the Russian people as blameless in Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine is alarmingly widespread among the Russian opposition,” said Yunisbai, a social sciences professor at Pitzer College in California.
That even Putin’s opponents “despite all available evidence are united in not acknowledging the guilt of the Russian people” is a worrying signal for the world. Continued popular support for Russian imperialism remains “a ticking time bomb” even after the Putin era.
Men go to war, women say goodbye. Despite the mobilisation, there is no resistance to Putin in Russia
Polls show: Russians are for war
As evidence of the Russian people’s support for the war, the professor cites polls by the Russian non-governmental polling institute Levada. As a result, 81% of Russians support Vladimir Putin’s course. 74% said they supported their army’s war against Ukraine, while only 11% spoke out against it. Even though fewer and fewer Russians consider their army’s “military operation” a success, support for the war remains high.
︎ The German historian and Eastern European expert Jan Claas Behrends (including the European University of Frankfurt/Oder) views Khodorkovsky’s statements critically. “What privileged Muscovites and Petersburgers don’t understand: Great Russia outside the metropolis,” Behrends told BILD. “Europe and its values do not count here”.
Behrends does not believe in Russia’s enthusiasm for war, but he does not absolve the people of responsibility. “Pot is good for you. Public space is strictly controlled,” says Behrends. “Every person here is an island in the vast sea of authoritarian power. You submit to survive and go to war for the only country you know.
Numerous Ukrainians also took to Twitter to explain why they blamed not only Kremlin dictator Putin but also the Russian people for the war.
︎ “Who kills, tortures, rapes Ukrainians?” Ukrainian journalist Ostap Yarysh (Voice of America) asked on Twitter. “Putin himself? What are other Russians doing to end this war? Most Russians are not victims. They are either spectators of this bloody theater or facilitators of Putin’s regime.”
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