Questioned by Politico if he regretted the choice to work in Russia, Koolhaas retaliated: “If I thought it was a mistake, I would not have done it and even now retrospectively, I think that would be true. We have created a potential (in the garage) which is not currently used, but it was good to create this potential and perhaps one day, it will be – this potential is always there. ”
He added that “dialogue with Russia and the Russians” was a more promising path to cure the division between Moscow and the West – and said that following an American model of attempts to propagate democracy in the elder is an imperfect.
“There was a disconnection,” said Koolhaas, “Europe wanted to absorb an ancient Eastern countries in a wider entity and it had almost an obsessive vision and aim to do so. But he forgot to communicate seriously with others other than Europeans. I think we have almost blinded America. We have become more and more negative about Russia and We were able to have a dialogue. “
Pressed if they would engage with Russia now, given the large -scale invasion of Putin of Ukraine which started in February 2022 and shows no slowdown, Koolhaas replied: “Not now, but one day, when this (war) is finished. There are ways to speak to the Russians without only talking to Putin.”
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