This statement Voigt made in his interview with Ukrainian Espreso TV channel.
He said without a military force Russia would not give up on Crimea, nor would it abandon its sphere of influence in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Statements that the current conflict will a long-term one are unpleasant but quite realistic, Voigt emphasized.
He added that he sometimes compares this situation with the situation in Berlin when the conflict lasted for decades. At that time, the Soviet Union was implementing its interests and expanding its sphere of influence. Even though the German problems could be solved, he said, after many years they remained unresolved. Voigt stresses the two situations are not identical, but one of the preconditions to tackle the current problems could be Russia's understanding that it has got stuck in a dead end, according to Voigt.
