German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Russia is not yet ready for serious negotiations regarding Russia's war against Ukraine, and that the war will only end when Russia is at least economically, and potentially militarily, exhausted, UNN reports with reference to Bloomberg.
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"Russia is not yet ready for serious negotiations," Merz said regarding US-led talks to end the Kremlin's war against Ukraine during a Q&A session at the Munich Security Conference.
"This war will only end when Russia is at least economically, potentially militarily exhausted. We are approaching that time," he said. "But we are not there yet."
Merz began his speech with words about a "new phase of open conflict" that erupted with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This brought "deeper changes in the world than even we in this room could have imagined," Merz said.
Merz diagnosed the problem by stating that the old world order, "however imperfect it was in its time, no longer exists."
According to him, Russia commits war crimes in Ukraine every day, and China may soon equal the US militarily. US claims to leadership "have been questioned and perhaps lost."