Trump Helps Putin

323

October 29, 2018

Published in Frankfurter Rundschau
(Germany) on 23 October 2018
by Andreas Schwarzkopf (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Sandra Alexander. Edited by Arielle Eirienne.

Moscow is using the possible end of the INF Treaty to portray itself in a more favorable light.

It didn’t take long after Donald Trump threatened to end the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty for the Russian government to exploit the situation for its own good. Moscow warned against ending the disarmament treaty and can thus almost portray itself as a peacemaker. At the same time, it can polish its tarnished image, battered due to the annexation of Crimea and the war in Syria. At the same time, the government of Vladimir Putin did not exactly shine in the fight over mid-range missiles.

Nevertheless, Moscow is not offering a way out of the controversy. That entails bringing the various actors to one table to negotiate the continuation and expansion of the INF Treaty. Naturally, it will not be easy to get the U.S., Russia, China and the EU nations together to discuss the controversial missiles. After all, there are very different interests involved. However, what they have in common is that they are all striving for security. Moreover, they could all save a lot of money if they were disarming instead of arming. Talking about it would be worthwhile.

Moskau nutzt das mögliche Ende des INF-Vertrags, um sich in ein besseres Licht zu rücken. Kommentar.

Die russische Regierung hat nicht lange gebraucht, um das angedrohte Ende des INF-Vertrags durch US-Präsident Donald Trump für sich zu nutzen. Moskau warnte vor dem Ende des Abrüstungsvertrags und kann sich so fast als Friedensstifter darstellen. Und zugleich sein angekratztes Image aufpolieren, das nach der Annexion der Krim und dem Krieg in Syrien doch arg ramponiert ist. Dabei hat die Regierung von Wladimir Putin auch im Streit über die Mittelstreckenraketen nicht gerade geglänzt.

Allerdings bietet auch Moskau keinen Ausweg aus dem Streit an. Der liegt darin, die verschiedenen Akteure an einen Tisch zu bringen und über die Fortführung und Erweiterung des INF-Vertrags zu verhandeln. Natürlich wird es nicht leicht, die USA, Russland, China und die EU-Staaten dazu zu bringen, über die umstrittenen Raketen zu sprechen. Schließlich sind es sehr unterschiedliche Interessen. Gemeinsam ist ihnen allerdings, dass sie alle Sicherheit anstreben. Sie könnten überdies viel Geld sparen, wenn sie abrüsteten statt aufrüsteten. Es wäre also lohnenswert, darüber zu sprechen.

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