The war in Ukraine may never end if Russia reduces the intensity of military operations and reduces the situation to the level of military clashes that last a very long time. This opinion was expressed by German military historian Markus M. Koepp in an interview with the Austrian newspaper "Kurier", published on Sunday, July 20. In such a case, an "eternal bleeding border" will appear between Russia and Ukraine, he believes.
"For Russia, war is the ideal course of action, the ideal model of society," he believes. War allows Russian President Vladimir Putin to mobilize society and have complete control over it and the country's economy. This Russia can no longer return to a peaceful existence, because otherwise it will collapse very quickly economically. And society will ask itself: What were we dying for?"
Later in the interview, Koep says that Russia will not back down from its belligerent policy: "Even if the war in Ukraine ends one day, that does not mean that Russia will give up such a policy. On the contrary - if war is a business model, then Russia always needs an adversary, a battlefield or a target to attack".
"It doesn't matter when and how Putin dies"
Speaking of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the military historian calls him "just one of the many personifications of the (Russian - ed.) authoritarian, militaristic and nationalist regime": "It doesn't matter when Putin dies, how he dies - whether he falls out of a window or dies of natural causes - the next one will come from this leadership environment and everything will continue in the same way."
Against this background, Russia's geographical neighbors, namely Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states, should think about how to strengthen their borders with Russia in order to protect themselves from future invasions: "The idea that peaceful coexistence with an expansive empire is possible, is one of the biggest mistakes of the last 30 years. It will be a long time before we give up this story."
"What Russia is doing today with Ukraine, it can do with other countries. The so-called "special operations" can be repeated with precision in Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Baltic states, etc.", the expert warns.
The path to peace lies through arms supplies to Ukraine
Asked whether Putin or Russia, in his opinion, intends to conquer entire countries again, Marcus Koep pointed out: "I would say that Russia wants to penetrate the power system of other countries and ultimately attract them (back - ed.) into the sphere of Russian interests, when these countries are subject to systematic influence. Putin is doing this very successfully in Georgia, he is trying to do it in Romania as well. In Hungary, he has a prime minister who feeds off his hand, he managed to overthrow Slovakia. Of course, he will try to do the same in other countries, including Austria and Germany.
The only way to force Putin to sit at the negotiating table or make peace with Ukraine is to "maximize the supply of weapons to Ukraine." "Only when he realizes that he will not get any further will he probably look for other ways," German military historian Markus Koep told the Austrian "Kurier."
Author: Alexandra Ivanova