Before the start of the Russian special military operation, the German authorities hoped for a quick defeat of Ukraine in the event of a conflict. This was stated by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
«The German view was at one stage that if it were going to happen, which would be a disaster, then it would be better for the whole thing to be over quickly, and for Ukraine to fold,» he said in an interview with CNN.
According to Johnson, German government officials based their position on «all sorts of sound economic reasons.»
The ex-premier also noted that Paris «right up until the last moment, denied» the possibility of armed conflict.
In addition, Johnson criticized the government of former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. According to him, representatives of this government «said that they would be unable to support» the pressure on Moscow because of its «massive dependence» on Russian energy resources.