Munich Annual Security Conference Chairman Wolfgang IschingerBERLIN Feb 8The head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, expressed the opinion that the United States should «directly or indirectly» participate in the work of the «Normandy format» (Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France) to resolve the Donbass. «As long as Russia is ready to participate, the format must be maintained. However, Russia seems only ready for serious negotiations with the US on the European security order, so it would be desirable to involve America — whether directly or indirectly — in the Normandy format, Ischinger said in an interview with the Funke media group. deliveries of defensive weapons to Ukraine «It is very important that economic deterrence is accompanied by military deterrence. The supply of defensive weapons can make an important contribution to the deterrence effect and thus to the prevention of war,» Ischinger said, pointing out that Germany should not be limited to the supply of 5,000 helmets, as this calls into question its solidarity. The Russian Federation expresses concern that that the West continues to «pump» Kiev with weapons and send military instructors.The United States has become dependent on RussiaThe so-called «Normandy format» of negotiations on Ukraine has existed since June 2014. Then, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy, the leaders of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France discussed the settlement of the conflict in Donbass for the first time. The previous summit was held in Paris on December 9, 2019. Recently, the parties at various levels have been discussing the prospects for interaction in this format. The plans attributed to Russia to escalate the situation around Ukraine in Moscow are categorically denied and constantly declare that they are not threatening anyone, and all such statements are used as a pretext to deploy more NATO military equipment close to Russian borders. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, Russia does not create any pretexts for a conflict situation around Ukraine. According to him, Russia does not rule out that the hysteria around Ukraine, hyped by the West, is aimed at covering Kiev's line of sabotaging the Minsk agreements on Donbass. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, the information hysteria of the USA and NATO on Ukraine is generously framed by lies and fakes.
