Asked by CNBC’s Hadley Gamble if he expected civil unrest in Egypt due to the food shortage caused by the war, Sawiris, president and CEO of Orascom Investment Holding, said he did not – he said people would know the crisis provoked by Putin and not their own government. “I do not think so,” Sawiris said on Wednesday, “because people understand that this crisis is not our creation. ». Sawiris then referred to French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to continue his diplomatic engagement with Putin, more than three months after the war that killed thousands of civilians and razed several Ukrainian cities. Macron stressed in May that Putin should not be humiliated and that the door should be left open to improve diplomatic relations. The call echoed that of some Western analysts who say Putin must be able to “save face” in the midst of this war in order to reach a diplomatic settlement. An aerial view shows houses destroyed after being hit in the town of Pryvillya in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 14, 2022, amid a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Aris Messini AFP | Getty Images Sawiris, among many others, responded to these calls with criticism. “Contrary to what Mr. Macron says, we must not care about his feelings, we must not hurt his feelings. We must win this war, because he is another Hitler.” “It’s the same story in World War II,” he continued. “It started like this, we appeased Hitler by giving him a piece of Czechoslovakia. Then he enters Poland, takes over the whole thing, and goes on and on – he is not going to stop there. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in London did not respond to CNBC requests for comment.
To calm down or not to calm down?
Putin claims that his goal is to “demilitarize” and “denationalize” Ukraine, a sovereign democracy with a Jewish president. The Kremlin insists it is not targeting civilians, despite growing and well-documented evidence to the contrary, including the bombing of residential areas and the discovery of mass graves in cities and towns attacked and occupied by Russian troops. Russian forces now occupy about 20 percent of Ukraine and bloody battles are raging in the eastern Donbass region, which the Kremlin has described as an “unreserved priority.” “Trying to avoid a confrontation can always be seen as a weakness and will not be deterrent,” Sawiris said. “And after the end, what are we going to do? We see all these Ukrainians dying before our eyes, will we watch it? No? So, I’m not in favor of appeasing this man.” A team of excavations transports a body of a Ukrainian civilian killed by the Russian army in a forest near Bucha, Ukraine – June 13, 2022. Dominika Zarzycka | Nurphoto | Getty Images Many critics of Putin have likened the Russian president to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who invaded Sweden in the run-up to World War II, an area of former Czechoslovakia inhabited by German Swedes. Historians point to the failed attempts of some European leaders to subsequently appease Hitler, who did nothing to slow down his military push across the continent. Some Ukrainian and Western officials and analysts are now warning that other countries such as Moldova, Georgia or the Baltic states could be next if Putin does not stop. The Kremlin has not announced such goals and initially calculated its invasion of Ukraine in the latter’s goal of joining the NATO alliance. Tanks of pro-Russian troops lead along a road during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the town of Popasna in the Luhansk region, Ukraine, May 26, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters But almost four months after the war, Putin seems to have changed his mind about pursuing what he calls Russia’s “special military operation.” Last week, he referred to 18th-century Russian Tsar Peter the Great, who was credited with modernizing and enlarging Russia through expansionist wars, in comments widely seen as justifying imperial expansion and occupation of Ukrainian land. “Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years. He seems to have been at war with Sweden, he took something from them,” Putin was quoted as saying by Reuters. Then he added, “He did not take anything from them, he returned [what was Russia’s]. “ Putin also referred to the invasion of Ukraine, saying: “Obviously, it is up to us to return [what is Russia’s] and strengthen [the country]. And if we proceed from the fact that these basic values are the basis of our existence, we will certainly be able to solve the tasks we face. “
