The West "must set its own red lines" to upset Vladimir Putin
A senior German diplomat has called on the West to impose its own red lines on Vladimir Putin, rather than worrying about those set by the Russian president.
In recent weeks, the Kremlin leader has repeatedly warned that he won’t hesitate to use his nuclear arsenal in Ukraine if he feels threatened by Western actions.
Wolfgang Ischinger, who served as a deputy foreign minister during his career, has now urged the West to establish its own limits to counter the Kremlin and shift its ongoing rhetoric.
"Russia keeps saying, if you do this, if you cross this or that red line, we might escalate," said the former chair of the Munich Security Conference.
"Why don't we turn this thing around and say to them: ‘We have lines and if you bomb one more civilian building, then you shouldn't be surprised if, say, we deliver Taurus cruise missiles or America allows Ukraine to strike military targets inside Russia’?", he added in an interview with POLITICO.
Speaking after the Yalta European Strategy Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger also emphasized that once a red line is drawn, it should not be changed, as doing so would risk losing credibility.
(QG - Source : POLITICO / Picture: © Pixabay)