Valdai Club

The escalation of the Ukrainian crisis in February 2022 changed the attitude of German officials towards Russia and its society. There was a radical simplification of the image of Russia in Germany to a contrasting black and white image, without halftones. Most of Russian society has been subjected to systemic demonization, having experienced all the “achievements” of Western “cancel culture”, writes Valdai Club expert Artyom Sokolov.

As before, Germany does not have a golden share in the rapidly failing Ukrainian enterprise. Olaf Scholz’s visit to Kiev, along with his counterparts from France, Italy and Romania, did not shake the desire of Kiev politicians to regain control over Crimea and Donbass by military means. The course towards strengthening transatlantic unity will reduce the room for manoeuvre for German politicians in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

The Paris summit can be assessed as a rather accomplished attempt to give a new impetus to the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Following the victory of Vladimir Zelensky in the presidential election, changes in a number of key variables occurred within the confusing equation of the Ukrainian crisis. This gave hope for concrete results in resolving the Donbass situation.