“We will not accept that the Russian president will succeed in his strategy to break up Ukraine. We will not accept that he hopes that international cohesion will be broken,” added the minister.
With the attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Vladimir Putin has “plunged further into inhumanity,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock, stressing that Group of Seven (G7) countries “will not allow the elderly, children and young people to die en masse of hunger and cold.”
“Joint sanctions are now being followed by winter aid from all G7 partners. And this help also means that we do not accept that peace and international law will be violated during the winter,” Mrs Burbock said at the start of the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting under the German presidency today and tomorrow in Münster Westphalia.
“We will not accept that the Russian president will succeed in his strategy to break up Ukraine. We will not accept that he hopes that international cohesion will be broken,” added the minister.
Referring to relations with China, ahead of Chancellor Olaf Soltz’s much-discussed visit to Beijing tomorrow and reiterating her criticism, Ms Burbock said the country was now acting more aggressively militarily and called for “the mistakes of the past not to be repeated in politics towards Russia”.
Beijing is not only a partner in international affairs, but also a competitor and now a much stronger opponent in terms of understanding the international order, the minister added.
With an eye on suppressing the protests in Iran, Analena Burbock criticized Tehran and justified the relevant travel directive issued by her ministry for the departure of Germans from the country.
“We are witnessing the barbaric violence used by the Iranian regime against its own citizens. How it hits its young people, its society. People are dying,” Ms Burbock said.
The issue of Iran is expected to be central to tomorrow’s meeting of foreign ministers, and French Minister Catherine Colonna has already warned that “we must be prepared to agree new sanctions against Iran if necessary”, stressing that the violent suppression of peaceful protests is condemned from all G7 partners.
He also called on the Iranian authorities to release the French and other Europeans who, as he said, are being held illegally.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Mrs Burbock and her US counterpart Anthony Blinken organized a “German-US Forum” on democracy and digital technology, in which the German minister described transatlantic cooperation as “security for peace and democracy ” and highlighted the need to “build an even stronger partnership for the 21st century”, as, as he said, only together can we face the current global challenges.
He even specifically referred to the security problems of the digital age. “We all now know that the digital world comes with risks to our security and threatens our freedom,” he said, while Mr. Blinken agreed that “there are fundamental security issues.”
He said he grew up believing in the principle espoused by the philosopher John Stuart Mill, that “a market of ideas will lead to the predominance of truth,” but unfortunately, he admitted, “it turned out not to be the case.”
“This is not the reality we are experiencing, precisely because technology, when misused, causes distortions in the marketplace of ideas,” he said.
The German minister even brought up the example of Russian disinformation about the global food crisis after the invasion of Ukraine, when Russian propaganda spread that Western sanctions against Russia were to blame. He said the German government is planning new legislation to tackle disinformation, digital fraud and other online threats.
“We need more rules and this is something new, especially for the US, because we in Germany love rules,” she joked.
In another meeting today, the foreign and defense ministers of Germany and Japan agreed to strengthen the two countries’ defense cooperation under a military pact, which will include the exchange of supplies and logistical support.
The ministers also condemned “unilateral efforts to violently change the status quo in the East and South China Seas.”
RES-EMP
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
