Call from East Germany to Support President Putin’s Peace Initiative

The June 21 online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) heard a report from Joachim Bonatz, the Vice President of the East German OKV, an umbrella organization of different social and cultural associations in eastern Germany, on their support for the peace initiative announced on June 14 by Vladimir Putin. The OKV statement, which was overwhelmingly supported by the participants, states that the proposals “are based on the vote of the population of the four new regions, as well as the multiple votes of the people of Crimea. They are also based on the facts on the battlefield. They show the genesis of the Ukraine conflict.”

It further states that given “the suffering caused by war and aggression and the danger of this conflict escalating into a Third World War, broad support for this initiative is an expression of the will of all rational people to survive”.

“The war-mongering, profit- and revenge-driven calls for Russia to be defeated are based on the mistaken assumption that the theater of war can be limited. This was not the case in the First and Second World Wars. With today’s means, which can reach any target in the world in the shortest possible time, such an assumption is also evidence of a huge misjudgment and negligence of reality. Those calling for war and against negotiations believe that they themselves may have a safe chance of survival….

“Our contribution is to support the Russian President’s peace initiative in such a way that it gains a broad echo and helps reason to prevail in the interests of humanity…. Regardless of party affiliation, faith or nationality, we call on everyone to join us in supporting V. Putin’s peace initiative.”