MEP: all Russia's neighbors suffer from remaining Soviet legacy


Estonian MEP Marju Lauristin in an interview with Belsat expressed fear about the causes of Russian propaganda and the ravings of Putin.

Belsat: The situation in Russia is surprising: the economy is in decline, the country is actually at war with Ukraine, the opposition is simply shot on the street. And Putin’s support is growing. Is the country not crazy?

Marju Lauristin: All this reminds me the Stalin times. When I watch in Estonia on TV channels from Moscow, this propaganda alnguage takes me directly back to my childhood years, when on the radio we heard loud and threatening voices of Moscow anchors. They always evoked feelings of fear and depression. The fact that Russia did not become a country of free people, when there was an opportunity for it in the late 1980s and in the 1990s is a misfortune for all of us, for all of Russia’s neighbors.

Belsat: Europe does not know what to do with Russia. Some believe that sanctions do not work. Do you agree?

Marju Lauristin: I think now no one knows what to do with Russia, the worst thing is that even the Russian people do not know. What we see in Ukraine is the beginning, a test. We all understand that Putin is now just testing, looking, how far he can go with his “hybrid war”. He says, our guys just were there on vacation, tanks were sold in stores, and they purchased it. So it’s obvious nonsense! This is a provocation, we see how this escalation reached the limit, even Russia itself feels that there is this red line.

belsat.eu/en/

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