Germany's representative to the OSCE: The conflict in the Donbas will allow Russia to prevent Ukraine from joining the EU
The "frozen" conflict in the Donbas will enable Russia to influence political processes in Ukraine, which will prevent Ukraine from joining the EU or NATO, as stated by the Special Representative of the Federal Government of Germany for the OSCE Chairmanship, Gernot Erler in an interview with Evropeyskaya Pravda.
According to him, that's why Russia seeks to create a "frozen conflict" in the East of Ukraine. "The frozen conflict in the Donbas would give Russia levers of influence over the Ukrainian political process.
This would be enough to prevent Ukraine's membership in NATO or the EU,” Erler said. “However, of course, this is not an officially proclaimed policy of the Russian Federation. We can only speculate about such intentions, judging from previous conflicts. After all, there were other ideas in Russia, for example, the idea of creation of "Novorossiya", but it is no longer supported."
Erler also noted that Russia always supports only "separatist movements" in local conflicts, for example in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.
"Officially, Russia stands for the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine and speaks of a purely internal conflict. However, this, in turn, does not disprove that Russia's goal is precisely the levers of influence over the Ukraine's domestic and foreign policy," he said, adding that Russia "in actuality agreed that it is a party to the conflict. And overall this could be called the success of Western diplomacy."