The US cannot assert itself alone in the world without European support. “This will not be successful in the long term in a world of competing powers“, said German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius during a discussion at the Munich Security Conference.
At the same time, Pistorius argued that “Europe must take the lead in providing strong conventional forces and take more responsibility for its neighbours, while the US will continue to provide strategic and nuclear support for the foreseeable future“.
Pistorius said that the US is allowing Europe to be excluded from the Ukraine talks. He believes it is necessary to immediately resume supplying Kiev with air defense systems.
During a discussion at the Munich Security Conference, he said that Moscow "refuses to negotiate with the Europeans." "And the Americans allow this," the German defense minister said. "This is our problem at the moment. Washington allows this to happen," he said. Pistorius noted that Europeans cannot simply “sit down at the negotiating table alone“.
The German minister also said that he considered it necessary to quickly resume deliveries of air defense systems to Kiev.
On February 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov announced that the next round of talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine would be held in a trilateral Russian-American-Ukrainian format on February 17-18 in Geneva.
The Russian side has repeatedly emphasized that the Europeans will not be able to bring any constructive agenda to the negotiation process, since they are actually a party to the Ukrainian conflict.