Joschka Fischer: Weakened Russia poses a heightened risk

Following the aborted march on Moscow by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group, the war in Ukraine has entered a dangerous new phase. The endgame is approaching, and whatever happens on the battlefield will determine the future of Russian domestic politics, too, writes Joschka Fischer

Vladimir Putin's “special military operation” has become a bloody slog that Russia could well lose. Picture: Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik via AP

Russia’s senseless war in Ukraine has been raging for nearly a year and a half, and the basic criminal nature of the enterprise has not changed. 

A major nuclear power wants to deny its neighbor—a “brother nation”—a previously recognized right to exist. Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen a war of conquest as his means. If he achieves his desired end, Ukraine will be incorporated into Russia, disappearing as an independent sovereign state.