Zelenski, before the German Parliament: “Russia is building a new wall”

The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, spoke this Thursday in the Bundestag -the German Parliament- and reproached Germany for having prioritized the economy and the supply of Russian gas. Through a video message, Zelensky warned that Moscow is “building a new wall” between “freedom and lack of freedom” with the invasion of his country.

“Each bomb that falls, each decision that is not adopted is a stone with which that wall is built,” said the Ukrainian president, whose intervention by videoconference had been received with a standing ovation from the entire plenary.

He also criticized German government policies over the years that have increased energy dependence on Russia.

“We warned you that Nord Stream 2 was a weapon. And his response was economy, economy, economy,” Zelensky said, referring to the German-Russian gas pipeline and sanctions that, in his opinion, “are insufficient and late.”

Standing ovation for Zelensky in the Bundestag ahead of his address to German MPs: pic.twitter.com/vJV2HA3T1h

— Jeremy Cliffe (@JeremyCliffe) March 17, 2022

More help

Zelensky, as in his speech before the United States Congress, used the occasion to ask for more help to fight Russia because “the people of Ukraine want to live free and not submit to another country.”

The Ukrainian leader recalled in his message the bombings on the besieged city of Mariupol and other attacks that his country suffers “day and night” and “every day of the week.” “Without the help of the rest of the world, it is difficult for us to survive all this, to defend Ukraine and to defend the free world of Europe,” he said.

The Ukrainian president addressed his German counterpart, Olaf Scholz, directly and asked him to be “the leader that Germany needs” and to support his country resolutely, something that cannot be limited, in his opinion, to economic sanctions so far. dictated against the entourage of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky ended his speech by paraphrasing the one made in 1987 by the then US president, Ronald Reagan, when he asked Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall: “Mr. Scholz, destroy this wall. Give Germany the leadership it deserves.”