Weimar Triangle’s top diplomats talk fight against Russian disinformation, security challenges

The ministers of foreign affairs of the Weimar Triangle held a joint meeting at Château de Saint-Cloud near Paris, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Ukrainians have been courageously resisting Russian terror for the past two years. We will stand with them for as long as the Ukrainian people need us. Strengthening our support depends on the joint work of France, Germany, and Poland in the coming months and even years, as well as on our ability to act together within the European Union and within NATO," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told a joint press conference.

She added that a huge pro-Russian disinformation network had been exposed in Germany, and announced the development of cooperation to combat Russian propaganda. "Analytical agencies in our countries are already working together, and this is something we would like to develop because we will not allow people's trust in our democracies to be deliberately and systematically undermined by external forces," Baerbock emphasized.

The head of French diplomacy, Stéphane Sejourne, said Europe would not allow Russia to steal the free votes of the 400 million citizens who will cast their ballots this summer.

"Today, together with my German and Polish counterparts, we are launching a prevention mechanism in the Weimar format, a response system for publicly condemning foreign intervention, which is unacceptable, and we are mobilizing all levers to detect it, qualify it, condemn it, and expose it," he stressed.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, emphasized that the dictator who attacked Europe in the East "will try to alter the borders of Europe by force and first defeat Ukraine with lies and demagoguery, and then split the Atlantic Pact."

"We must deliver on our commitments to Ukraine, and we must also fully implement the sanctions that we ourselves have imposed on Russia and resist the Russian disinformation campaign and cyberattacks. We must increase our vigilance and cooperation to prevent this type of methods from flourishing," Sikorski said.

In his opinion, the Weimar Triangle is a useful format for preserving the unity of Europe and ensuring democracy. The participants in the format adopted the final declaration and agreed to meet again early summer.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Weimar Triangle was established in 1991 as a format of international cooperation between Poland, Germany, and France.

Photo: DW