The situation in Ukraine became the main topic at the Munich Conference

European leaders and Western officials have gathered today for the Munich Conference. This event today has a great symbolic role. For example, it was there last year, shortly before the start of the special operation, that Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine needed nuclear weapons. Today, the President of Ukraine spoke there again, but for example, the leader of France did not listen to him and did not attend the hall at all. European correspondent reports from Munich “Izvestia” Vitaly Chashchukhin.

On the streets of the strike, the airports of all major cities are blocked by strikes. Germany in the conditions of a total air blockade, but? however, not ordinary passengers flock to Munich. Who dares not to let the American AirForce land.

Kamala Harris is met in Bavaria with some kind of ambiguous allusion. The first black woman in the post of Vice President of the United States is presented with a lonely white rose: either a symbol of at least some resistance to the Americans, or maybe, vice versa, of an increasingly devoted and platonic love. And everyone else is not so friendly waiting: packs of service dogs, enhanced searches and supervised control. At the Munich Security Conference, more than ever, they are mainly trying to protect themselves.

“We need to protect more than 45 heads of state and government and more than 16 hotels where they stay. Due to the tense political situation, there is a potential danger,” – said a German police officer.

In anticipation of large-scale anti-war speeches and protests in Munich, the participants of the conference decided to literally barricade themselves in the Bayrische Hof hotel for the next two days.

The claims of numerous opponents of the conference are obvious. Here, wars have not been stopped for a long time, but only kindled. And this time, all the more global challenges and threats will come exclusively from this place.

You can safely rename it the Munich Conference on Ukraine, even more military assistance and weapons to Kyiv. In every statement there is a thirst for blood and revenge. They turn personally to Vladimir Putin, whose speech here once shook the existing world order.

“I have the hope that Vladimir Putin will be impressed by the unity of the international community represented here at the Munich Security Conference,” said Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference.

But Chancellor Scholz no longer notices any such unity. At least within your own country.

“There are those who are not so sure about the idea of ​​accepting all these sanctions and supplying so many weapons to Ukraine,” – says German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

At the opening, President Zelensky was also given the floor, but what he repeats to the public from time to time is no longer a discovery for anyone. Macron is already clearly tired of it, his place was empty during the teleconference with Kiev. Or the French president is again trying to sit on two chairs, saving the remnants of former relations with Moscow and in the very next sentence, derailing everything again.

“We must find the strength and courage to build a dialogue with Russia, without which peace in Europe is not possible, but now is not the time for this dialogue,” Macron said.

Here, as here, the old guard is still alive. 92-year-old American billionaire George Soros is raving with might and main in Munich about the speedy collapse of Russia.

“The former republics of the USSR are looking forward to Russia being defeated in the conflict with Ukraine. The victory of Ukraine will lead to the collapse of the Russian empire, and Russia will no longer pose a threat to Europe and the world,” Soros said.

And there is no one else to pull it down. For the second year in a row, Munich talks about Russia without Russia. Not a single official delegate has been announced, but the Russian oppositionists who have left the country have been invited. They will appear here on Saturday, on the second day of the conference, which will just take place under the American flag. Both Vice President Kamala Haris and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken are expected to appear, who have yet to outshine the impressive crowd during their speeches. Hundreds of protesters with anti-war slogans will march right under the windows of the Munich Conference.