Heusgen: Russia needs “deputinization”
According to the head of the Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, Russia must carry out a “deputinization” before German-Russian relations can be revived. The term is based on the de- or denazification by the Allies after Germany’s defeat in World War II and the collapse of the Nazi regime. “I use the term deputinization because this country is totally aligned with Putin,” the former UN ambassador told the editorial network Germany (RND) before the security conference he chaired in Munich, which begins on Friday. Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin is the ruler who makes all decisions.
Heusgen chose a corresponding formulation in his recently published book “Leadership and Responsibility”. A new start in relations could only be “with another government in Moscow that acts on the basis of international law and is willing to carry out something like “denazification” in Germany at home”.
The Russian President is systematically disinformation about his war of aggression against Ukraine. “People should believe his story that there is an attack from the West and that the Nazis are invading Russia again,” former foreign and security policy advisor to former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) told RND. Basically, Germans and Russians have maintained good relations over the centuries. “You can build on that.”