According to the Left, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is contrary to international law, but that is by no means a reason to stop calling for the abolition of NATO. Party leader Wissler has a different security model in mind.
Despite the Ukraine war, the Left Party is pushing for the abolition of NATO. “We want to replace NATO with a collective security system. That still applies,” said party leader Janine Wissler to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Stable international security can only be guaranteed when all important states are integrated into a common security system. Our criticism of NATO is not obsolete because Russia is waging a war that violates international law.”
Wissler did not want to accept the objection that without NATO, Putin’s troops could already be in the Baltic States. “My impression is not that Putin is about to attack the Baltic States. His army has totally worn itself out in Ukraine,” she said. “And NATO is anything but a guarantor of security and stability in this world. It has itself waged wars that violate international law – in Afghanistan or in the Balkans.” In addition, NATO’s eastward expansion “is part of the prehistory of the Ukraine war.”
When asked whether she blamed NATO for this war, Wissler denied. “I think NATO’s eastward expansion was a mistake. But it’s no justification for invading Ukraine and bombing cities.”
During the election campaign for the 2021 federal election, Wissler had also expressly criticized the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the suppression of the opposition. She denied that her party had a “soft spot for Russia” – she was more concerned that “we don’t want a military confrontation with Russia.” At that time, too, she reaffirmed the position of the left: “We want to dissolve NATO and transform it into a collective security alliance.” This should also include Russia.
