Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
He says recent talks should not be mistaken for a shift in Russia’s strategy
A senior German lawmaker is urging caution as diplomatic contacts with Moscow continue.
Roderich Kiesewetter, a foreign affairs expert for the CDU, told ntv that expectations of a Russian rethink are misplaced.
Appearing on the programme “Pinar Atalay,” he warned against “naively believing that if we meet here in Berlin now, Putin will come to see that at some point he will have to tell his population: now the West is ‘ready for war’ (…), now it has all not been worth it.”
According to Kiesewetter, 2026 and 2027 would be pivotal.
“If we get through them — through military readiness, but also by not frightening our population, instead saying: attention, this could be a threat, let’s be cautious — then we will have made it,” he said in the programme.
He stressed that vigilance should not translate into alarmism, but into steady preparation.
Two full army corps
Kiesewetter said Russia is building forces beyond Ukraine. Drawing on his background as a former Bundeswehr colonel and ex-NATO official, he pointed to Moscow’s military posture in Belarus.
Russia, he said, maintains two army corps there, totaling between 350,000 and 360,000 combat-ready troops.
While the war in Ukraine has brought limited battlefield success for Moscow, Kiesewetter argued that a war-driven economy is enabling the training of “hundreds of thousands of soldiers who are not being deployed in Ukraine at all.”
“We are Russia’s next target”
He noted that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had previously downplayed such risks. During a Berlin visit last week, however, Rutte spoke more starkly.
On December 11, Rutte said: “We are Russia’s next target.” He also warned of a conflict “like the one our grandparents experienced.”
Sources: ntv, NATO transcripts
