The former American president explained why the West’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was weaker.
Former US President Barack Obama, whose second term fell due to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in Donbass, in an interview with CNN explained the lack of active support for Ukraine from the West compared to the events of 2022.
In particular, according to him, what was then Ukraine allegedly “is not Ukraine in its current understanding.”
“There is a reason that explains the fact that there was no armed invasion of Crimea. In Crimea, there are already many Russian-speaking people, and there is also a certain sympathy with the views represented by Russia. And in (Supreme, – ed.) After all, the Rada then had Russian sympathizers. Politics in Ukraine was more complicated then,” the American politician believes.
The former American leader also stood up for former German chancellor Angela Merkel, who was criticized for rapprochement with Russia and was not too tough.
“Me and Merkel, to whom I bow my head in deep respect, have to involve many other panicked Europeans to still impose sanctions and prevent Putin from continuing his aggression in Donbass, as well the rest of Ukraine,” Obama said. .
According to him, “considering what a crossroads Ukraine was then and what the moods were in Europe,” it seems they managed to “keep the borders.”
“What happened next was that a sense of Ukrainian identity, separate from Russia, prevailed, and Ukraine’s determination to expel Russian troops, preparing its army and civil society to resist Russian aggression,” he said.
The West challenged Putin “with the tools we had at the time, but also provided the state of Ukraine,” the former US president summed up.
Did the west stand up enough to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014? Former President @BarackObama I am told that, “given both where Ukraine is at, at the time, and where the European mindset is at that time, we hold the line.” pic.twitter.com/QvqEfVUnkd
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) June 23, 2023
Twitter users posted a screenshot of a video from 2014, responding to Obama’s words that there was “no armed invasion of Crimea.”
In the frame you can see how Russian soldiers entered the building of the Crimean Parliament.
“no armed invasion of Crimea”
And it wasn’t Russian soldiers who took over the Crimean parliament in February of 2014, it was teenage mutant ninja turtles looking for pizza. https://t.co/kYNDUF2Kca pic.twitter.com/35pakltZxR
— xena 🌊 (@xenasolo) June 23, 2023
Recall that Angela Merkel tried to justify friendship with Russia during her tenure as German Chancellor. He also spoke about the need for negotiations to end the war.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.