Controversy between Germany and Ukraine after Zelenskyy yesterday declared the presence of German President Steinmeier undesirable. Chancellor: “No visit to Kyiv is planned at the moment”
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BERLIN The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, FrankWalter Steinmeier, had to forego a visit to Kyiv yesterday as a sign of solidarity because Volodymyr Zelenskyj does not appreciate his presence in the Ukrainian capital.
It is a real setback suffered by the German head of state, who still finds the Ukrainian leadership too dialogical in his attitude towards Moscow. And it is a setback, before which the German response was not long in coming: Chancellor Scholz described Kiev’s decision as “irritating”, announced that he would not go to Ukraine for the time being and emphasized that we had to “prevent Germany from to become part of the war”.
But what happened yesterday?
During a visit to Warsaw, Polish President Andrzej Duda suggested that Steinmeier go to Kyiv together. The trip was also due to include the Presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (the delegation arrived in Kyiv today), a trip intended as a “show of European solidarity with Ukraine”.
“I was ready for that said the German head of state at a press conference but apparently, and I have to accept it, this is not desirable.”
Shortly before the announcement, the Bild newspaper, citing Ukrainian sources, wrote that if Steinmeier arrived in Kyiv, President Zelenskyy would refuse to receive him. “At the moment this is not welcome a Ukrainian diplomat told the newspaper we will see if things change later.”
As Chancellor of Gerhard Schröder and two terms as Foreign Minister under Angela Merkel, Steinmeier has been the face of Germany’s open politics and strong trade relations with Russia for years. He was also a strong supporter of Nord Stream 2, the RussianGerman gas pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea and has now been permanently blocked by the Berlin government.
Steinmeier was also one of the architects of the Minsk agreements between Russia and Ukraine on the Donbass, which Kyiv always considered too onesided in favor of the Russians. But in recent weeks, after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Steinmeier made a public mea culpa and called his support for Nord Stream 2 “a serious mistake” and the wrong policy of dialogue with Putin: “We got stuck on bridges for too long, in which Russia no longer believed, although our partners warned us ».
April 13, 2022 (Change April 13, 2022 | 16:06)
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