The leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) has publicly criticized its previous policy towards the Russian Federation and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. It happened during the party conference.
SPD regrets that it did not distance itself from Russia earlier
It was a mistake not to distance ourselves from Putin's system earlier, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said.
According to Rolf Mützenich, head of the SPD faction in the Bundestag, he "completely underestimated" the Russian dictator's imperial mindset.
Moreover, they publicly admitted that they regret the pro-Russian policy of the Social Democrats until February 24, 2022.
The SPD insists that Europe and the West work more actively on the organization of security against Russia.
They also emphasized that official Berlin strongly supports and will support Ukraine.
SPD still urges not to criticize the policy of detente concerning the Russian Federation
According to Mützenich, he opposes attempts to discredit the long-standing policy of detente with Russia.
Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine shows that we have not always correctly assessed the events of recent years... It was a mistake to adhere to the assumption that strengthening economic ties will contribute to the democratization of Russia, the politician noted.
Mützenich also noted that this led to his country becoming "unilaterally dependent on Russia from the point of view of energy policy."
In his opinion, as long as the head of the Kremlin pursues his imperialist goal of conquering and suppressing sovereign states, there can be no normalization of relations with Russia.
A sovereign Europe is the most important political response to changing times, MP from SPD believes.
