00:00Yes, and we caught up with Alina Valtonin, who was participating at a business conference very much dedicated to the
00:05security sector.
00:06And she told me, plain and simple, at this stage, the security picture for Europe will remain unstable.
00:11It will remain volatile for as long as the war in Ukraine continues.
00:15And that is the assessment that they make.
00:17As long as the war continues, this will be the everyday reality for certainly the frontline countries.
00:23She also told me and reinstated that her country is in favor of using the Russian frozen assets.
00:29As you know, Shefan, this debate was shelved last year over Christmas.
00:33Instead, the Europeans decided that they would pay out of pocket with a loan, but it has been revived because
00:39the cost of the war keeps mounting.
00:41And at this stage, let's be clear about this.
00:43It is the Europeans who are, for the most part, paying for the war effort alongside the Ukrainians who are
00:49the ones doing the fighting.
00:50But they realize the bill is coming and it will be significant going into 2027.
00:55The other point that I would stress is she is a fluent German speaker.
01:00She keeps an eye on German affairs.
01:02And I asked her about the victory of the AfD.
01:04And this is relevant because the AfD has said they would want to reinstort ties with Russia diplomatically.
01:11She did tell me, however, this was not a case of Russian misinformation.
01:14This was not a case of perhaps Russia meddling in an election.
01:18It was an election that really tapped into some of the real issues that are happening in Europe.
01:22And Europe has to deal with.
01:24Let's take a look.
01:25Certainly, I would not attribute the overall success of AfD to only disinformation.
01:31That would be totally unwise and also very much untrue.
01:36But how Russian disinformation campaigning actually functions is precisely to take those points of dissatisfaction in the society and amplify
01:46those.
01:47and drive people against each other, but essentially and especially drive people against their own governments.
01:55I'm sure that Moscow is happy.
01:57But at the same time, there are true concerns of people behind that result.
02:03And I think it's extremely important we respect a democratic result, which this was.
02:09And first and foremost, I would say that, or at least based on what I hear around, is the concerns
02:15over migration, which are behind the election results.
02:20If you're aware of the concerns that I'm wrong, I can't just upload it just as a political right-wing
02:20situation.
