podcast
Ukraine – the situation
Military Expert: Putin Brings Back Cold War Logic – “Potential Of Explosion Is There”
“The logic of deterrence and containment of Russian aggression is back – and thus a very central element of the Cold War,” says politics professor and military expert Carlo Masala
© Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP
According to military expert Carlo Masala, the Russian attack on Ukraine has brought the logic of the Cold War back to Europe, as it was in star-Podcast “Ukraine – the situation” explained.
According to military expert Carlo Masala, the Russian attack on Ukraine has brought Cold War logic back to Europe. Masala says on Thursday in starPodcast “Ukraine – the situation” with a view to the NATO summit in Brussels: “Now it’s a matter of strengthening deterrence.” The additional battlegroups on the alliance’s eastern flank would function as “a tripwire”. An attack on the Baltic states, for example, would immediately draw troops from other NATO members into the fray. “The logic of deterrence and containment of Russian aggression is back – and thus a very central element of the Cold War,” says the politics professor from the Bundeswehr University in Munich.
“Can’t hope for Russia to implode non-violently”
Masala firmly opposes the West trying to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin. He warns of an incalculable development in the huge country. “You shouldn’t aim for regime change in Moscow,” he says.
“What we all don’t know is what centrifugal forces will then be triggered in Russia. We can’t hope that Russia will then simply implode without violence like the Soviet Union did. The potential for an explosion is there.”
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dr Carlo Masala is Professor of International Politics at the Bundeswehr University in Munich.
Masala assesses the military situation in Ukraine as basically unchanged. “The situation on the ground remains relatively static,” he says. From his point of view, the fact that the Russian troops near Kyiv have withdrawn a bit does not change that. The attack on Kyiv was “stopped for now,” he says. The “Ukrainian army is now going over to counter-offensives in isolated places, which it was not able to do in the first weeks of the war”. However, this does not lead to a fundamental reassessment of the war situation.