Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the German political party Alternative for Germany, also known as AfD, presented her view of the current tense situation around Ukraine, calling it "a failure of the West," while also adding that it failed to ensure Kiev's neutrality at an early stage.
Speaking in the German parliament on Sunday, the politician said that her party wishes that timely measures had been made "to put Ukraine and all other surrounding countries on a neutral status and not continuously pushing the frontiers of NATO's eastward expansion."
"The problem was Ukraine, the problem of the lack of neutrality status, and that was slept through," Weidel emphasized.
Weidel expressed an opinion that fulfilling the promise of Ukraine's neutrality could have reassured Russia about its security concerns. Weidel pointed out that Moscow had articulated the problem clearly for 20 years. And the US, for instance, would not tolerate any hostile power in its backyard, she added.
Weidel reiterated that this "insult" to Russia was the main reason for the situation in Ukraine. And more to that, the West bears some responsibility for the situation, because the hardliners have stuck rigidly to the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO and, in doing so, arrogantly denied Russia's status as a great power.
"This is the historic failure of the West: the insult to Russia," she underscored.
According to the member of parliament, "it was a total mistake" to tease Ukraine with unfulfillable promises, such as they would be able to join the EU and NATO.
"Thus, we lured Ukraine into this situation and this dangerous test," Weidel said.
NATO and above all Germany and France should have intervened early on, said the politician. Moreover, the current crisis sets political processes in motion "that we may no longer be able to control afterwards."
"In its current state, Germany has nothing to offer to follow the words with days," Weidel said. "Sanctions that harm their own citizens more than those they target cannot end the war. They are ultimately alibi politics - like illuminating the Brandenburg Gate in the Ukrainian national colors."
Western nations have increased sanctions pressure on Russia after it launched a special military operation in Ukraine following requests for help from Donbas.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said that the operation is targeting only the military infrastructure of Ukraine and that the civilian population is not in danger. Moscow says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine and that the purpose of its operation is to save the civilian population from genocide and liberate the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, namely through the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.