In political terms, Moscow remains fixated on Washington. US President Donald Trump is once again treating Russia as an equal world power. As long as this is the case, Vladimir Putin has nothing to fear.
This was stated to focus.de by German military expert and retired colonel Wolfgang Richter, commenting on what he expects as a reaction from the Kremlin after Germany's decision to lift the (range) restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine.
According to Richter, Putin is more worried about how his relations with the US will develop than with Europe. “It will probably be important for him not to give Trump any reason to make a radical change of course. Therefore, while he can still buy time, he must seriously engage in a negotiation process. This also represents a real possibility of ending the war this year“, said the German military expert.
Moscow criticized Friedrich Merz for his decision and said that Germany is interfering in the war and even escalating it, although the obvious aggressor remains Russia. “Putin's administration has already described the decision as contributing to escalation and torpedoing the negotiation process. This shows that the Europeans are not interested in peace, but in confrontation at the expense of Ukraine, they say. However, Putin will not be impressed by this, especially since the situation on the front is unlikely to change significantly. There, Russia continues to advance, albeit slowly“, said Richter.
According to the German colonel, Germany's decision will not have a drastic impact on what is happening on the Donbas front.
Regarding the Taurus cruise missiles, Berlin still does not dare to deliver such weapons to Kiev – despite Zelensky's explicit calls to do so. “The fact that the federal government is no longer willing to comment on individual arms deliveries is only partly due to the need for secrecy. On the other hand, the coalition partner (in the person of the ) Social Democratic Party has clearly stated that nothing fundamentally has changed in the previous criteria and agreements for arms deliveries. This means that there is no agreement for the supply of Taurus”, said the military analyst.