Podcast “Ukraine – the situation”
Security expert Mölling calls for armament against the threat from Russia
Ukrainian soldiers on a T-64 tank during an exercise in the Kiev region (archive image)
© Genya Savilov / AFP
Security expert Christian Mölling sees a growing military risk for Germany and the West because of Russia. He is therefore calling on the NATO states to massively rearm.
Security expert Christian Mölling has called on Germany and the West to massively arm themselves in order to deter Russia from a possible attack on NATO states. Mölling spoke on Tuesday star-Podcast “Ukraine – the situation” about a “sharply increasing military risk for NATO Europe”. According to the research director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, once the fighting in Ukraine has subsided, Russia could build up a military power within a few years that would be a threat to NATO.
“At the moment when the Russian war of aggression essentially ceases to be a consumer of the material that the Russians are currently producing, they can invest it in something else,” said Mölling. He pointed to successes Russia’s arms production, which can be kept high beyond the Ukraine conflict: “Then from Russia’s perspective it will pay off to invest in this war economy now.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has “so far been right in assuming that he can virtually overtake the West and Ukraine in terms of armaments.”
Mölling: Ukraine could be pressured into a ceasefire
The security expert suggested that Ukraine could possibly be pressured into negotiating a ceasefire at the beginning of next year. From then on, time runs, so to speak. “The reality is then breathtaking,” he said. “We are still in peace mode, Russia is not.”
Mölling’s concern is not about a broad attack by Russia on Europe, but rather limited actions against the Baltic states, for example. It could, for example, occupy part of the Baltics and then propose an exchange of territory. NATO’s task is therefore to make it clear to Russia that it can win a conventional war – this would minimize the risk of a conflict actually breaking out. He advocated “not thinking in a war scenario, but in a deterrence scenario.” Russia’s significantly increased willingness to take risks must be taken into account. The West’s efforts so far have not been nearly enough.
Regarding the new defense policy guidelines that Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius presented at the Bundeswehr conference, he said that they were “beautiful in terms of language. But you can’t yet see that the engine room is smoking and glowing.” What is needed is a “security policy decade”: “Awareness of the risk and also of the possibility that we can do something to influence this risk must become part of everyday life.”