The organizers of the Munich Security Conference have invited members of Russia’s opposition, including chess champion Garry Kasparov and exiled former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, to the event instead of delegates from the Russian government this year, conference chairman Christoph Heusgen said in an interview published Wednesday.
Explaining the decision, Heusgen said that the daily statements coming out of the Kremlin have given no indication that “Russia will retreat even one iota from what Putin has declared the goal of the war, namely, the destruction of Ukraine.”
In 2022, before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia declined to participate in the Munich Security Conference, claiming it was “transforming into a transatlantic forum” and “losing its inclusiveness and objectivity.”
The organizers of the forum do not want to give the Russian representatives a platform for propaganda. Oppositionists Garry Kasparov and Mikhail Khodorkovsky were invited to the conference instead.
Representatives of the Russian government are not invited to the Munich International Security Conference this year, conference chairman Christoph Heusgen said in an interview with MDR television on Wednesday, February 1. He explained this by the unwillingness to provide a platform for the authoritative international forum on security for the propaganda of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The statements that we hear daily from the Kremlin do not allow us to conclude that Russia will retreat even one iota from what Putin proclaimed as the goal of the war, namely the destruction of Ukraine ," Heusgen explained. According to him, instead of government officials from Russia, representatives of civil society and the opposition were invited, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov and disgraced oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Importance of aid to Ukraine
Heusgen, who previously served as foreign policy adviser to ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, defended Germany's support for Ukraine .
“Putin has made it clear that he ultimately wants to recreate the Soviet Union. If the Russian president succeeds in Ukraine , he will eventually invade the Baltic countries as well. Since these countries are members of NATO, this will directly affect Germany, allied obligations. This needs to be prevented, so Ukraine needs to be helped ," Christoph Heusgen said.
Representatives of the Russian government are not invited to the Munich International Security Conference this year, conference chairman Christoph Heusgen said in an interview with MDR television on Wednesday, February 1. He explained this by the unwillingness to provide a platform for the authoritative international forum on security for the propaganda of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The statements that we hear daily from the Kremlin do not allow us to conclude that Russia will retreat even one iota from what Putin proclaimed as the goal of the war, namely the destruction of Ukraine ," Heusgen explained. According to him, instead of government officials from Russia, representatives of civil society and the opposition were invited, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov and disgraced oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Importance of aid to Ukraine
Heusgen, who previously served as foreign policy adviser to ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, defended Germany's support for Ukraine .
“Putin has made it clear that he ultimately wants to recreate the Soviet Union. If the Russian president succeeds in Ukraine , he will eventually invade the Baltic countries as well. Since these countries are members of NATO, this will directly affect Germany, allied obligations. This needs to be prevented, so Ukraine needs to be helped ," Christoph Heusgen said.
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