German FM: 'Cold War Rhetoric’ Oversimplifies Global Situation

Return to the Cold War rhetoric represents oversimplification of the current situation in the international relations, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Monday.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — According to the German top diplomat, now the international situation is complicated by the fact that the stand-off engages multiple sides, not just two opponents.

"It makes the conflict more difficult to resolve, and it makes no sense to oversimplify things and, I believe, the Cold War rhetoric is oversimplification," the German minister said.

The statement comes as Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s statement at the Munich Security Conference last Saturday that NATO’s stance toward Russia indicated a slide toward cold war-level relations.

Medvedev explained his statement in an interview with the Time magazine, where he said that NATO's actions pushed the world closer to a new cold war, but no war was happening yet.