Scholz: “I will protect our country and our allies from all danger”
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz took advantage this Sunday of his televised speech to the German nation on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the Nazi capitulation and the end of World War II in Europe to defend aid and the supply of military material to Ukraine, criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “barbaric” war and explain his government’s policy towards the Kremlin. After recalling that the last global war cost 60 million lives and that National Socialist Germany was the trigger for that unjust war, Scholz pointed out that “from the catastrophic history of our country between 1933 and 1945 we had learned three lessons: never again war, never more genocide, never more dictatorship” and, for this reason, “it is more painful than today, 77 years after the end of the Second World War, once again brute force breaks the law in the middle of Europe. The Russian army kills men, women and children in Ukraine, turns cities to ashes and rubble and even attacks those who try to escape.
“We cannot remember the end of the Second World War in Europe without paying attention to the facts: there is war again in Europe and Russia has unleashed that war,” said the head of the German government, who accused the Russian president of trying to “subdue Ukraine and destroy their culture and identity.” Olaf Scholz also described as “manipulating history and infamous” that Putin compares his aggressive and invasive war with the fight against National Socialism. «We defend the right and freedom, alongside those attacked. We support Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor,” said the federal chancellor, who was convinced that Putin cannot win this war and Ukraine will end up surviving the conflict. “Freedom and security will win, just as freedom and security triumphed 77 years ago over “repression, violence and dictatorship.” After affirming that there will not be a Russian peace dictate, he commented that “Ukrainian women and men would not accept that, but neither would we.”
Scholz also defended the line followed by the federal government to support Ukraine and the initial reluctance to send heavy weapons and explained that it is the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that weapons have been sent directly to a side at war “and always weighing thoroughly, also with heavy material. We will continue to do so.” He also recognized that “we do not simply do what one or the other demands of us”, he stressed that he had sworn to avoid harm to the German people and stressed that this oath implies “protecting our country and our allies from all danger”. The Social Democratic politician also expressed his understanding for those who fear that the supply of weapons to Ukraine could escalate the conflict and even threaten peace in Germany. “It would be wrong not to take it into account. You have to be able to express these kinds of concerns, but at the same time you have to think that fear should not paralyze us », he said in his speech.
Scholz also revealed the four maxims that direct his government’s policy in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the first of which is that Germany must never act on its own. In addition, Germany’s defensive capability must be maintained and the federal government will not do anything that “harms us and our partners more than Russia.” The last principle of his policy explained by the Federal Chancellor stresses that he will not take any decision that could make NATO a party to the war. The Berlin chief executive also thanked the German people for their solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in this country, mostly the elderly, women and children, fleeing the war unleashed by Russia.
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