Austria’s ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is calling for de-escalation and negotiations in the Ukraine conflict. “Anyone who is pushing for a military solution here must be aware that Russia has nuclear weapons,” he said on the occasion of the presentation of his book “Let’s Talk About Politics”. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already crossed many red lines “that hardly anyone thought they were ready to cross,” he warned.
The war is causing “infinite suffering in Ukraine”, but is “also a real threat beyond that,” said Kurz in an interview with the APA news agency. “And if I add that up, then that’s a starting point where I think you should try everything – as difficult as it is – to de-escalate. To return to the negotiating table and try to prevent even worse things from happening,” said the former ÖVP chairman.
The ex-politician, who also worked as foreign minister, recalled that he often met Putin. After the start of the war, one now has to say, unfortunately, that he saw Putin as someone “who is ready to cross all red lines, who – I think – is also unscrupulous. In this respect, I am quite concerned that a defeat is simply not an option for him.”
Georg Hochmuth/APA/dpa
