Europe's belief in rationality of Putin's regime was a mistake – Austrian foreign minister

The Europeans mistakenly hoped for a rational behavior of the Russian regime towards Ukraine, but it was necessary to react earlier and more clearly and demonstrate red lines to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg stated this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"Did we expect it [Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine]? No. Shortly before that, I was at the Munich Security Conference. Although many people were talking about an imminent attack, we were relying on Putin's rational behavior. That was perhaps the biggest shock at the time: we all thought that Vladimir Putin, the Russian regime, would not do something completely irrational, something that would cause such damage to Russia itself. But they did it," Schallenberg said.

According to him, this is an important lesson for future crisis situations: "you can never rely on the other side to act rationally."

"Our intellectual mistake was probably that we often did not listen properly, even though the signs were very clear," Schallenberg added.

He admitted that it was necessary to react more harshly to Russian aggression earlier. Schallenberg said that "Putin's first speeches, in Munich in 2007 and 2008, revealed his imperialist ideas" and "we should have reacted clearly much earlier and drawn red lines."

"Discussing what could have been done differently in the past may seem like a silly exercise, but it carries an important lesson: we in Europe have believed for too long that war will not touch us again, that we are past it and that no one will be so crazy and irrational. We all know what happened in the First and Second World Wars. This belief in rationality was ultimately wrong. And the shock of February 24, 2022 was that the war returned to the European continent," he said.

Schallenberg also noted that for him, the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine was "like September 11" (terrorist attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001, when suicide bombers hijacked passenger planes and crashed into two New York skyscrapers - ed.).

"That may be pointless, but it does teach us an important lesson: we in Europe believed for too long that war would never happen again, that we had overcome it and that no one would be so crazy and irrational. We know what happened in the First and Second World Wars. This belief in rationality was ultimately a mistake. And yet the shock of February 24, 2022 is that war has returned to the European continent," the minister said.

Schallenberg also noted that for him Russia's invasion of Ukraine was like the September 11 attacks.

"Everyone remembers where they were when the two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. And that's exactly how February 24, 2022 is. I will never forget when I got the first call sometime between 4 and 5 a.m., then immediately rushed to the television and zapped back and forth between BBC, CNN and so on, while I was on the phone with the Federal Chancellor. Then the Federal Government met as a crisis team."

According to him, "this is an event that will not be forgotten."

"It was a watershed event. Something happened that will change all of our lives, our continent. It is rare that we understand in the moment that this is a historic moment," added the head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry.