Placeholder when loading item promotions
Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated on Monday that he would not visit Kyiv over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s rebuke of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, even though Scholz’s main political rival plans to visit the Ukrainian capital.
Steinmeier offered to meet Zelenskyy in Kyiv last month as Germany seeks to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian invasion. But Zelenskyy shut Steinmeier’s door and told him not to come because the Federal President, who had previously been foreign minister, had previously cultivated close ties between Berlin and Moscow.
The cold shoulder was inappropriate, Scholz said in an interview with ZDF, and meant he couldn’t visit Kyiv and Zelenskyy.
Pelosi makes surprise visit to Kyiv as Mariupol evacuations continue
The Ambassador of Ukraine in Germany, Andriy Melnyk, then said that according to German media reports, Scholz was playing “an insulted liver sausage” and was referring to a type of sausage. The diplomat added that Russia’s war against Ukraine is a brutal attempt at annihilation and “not a kindergarten”.
The left The Chancellor decided not to travel to Kyiv in view of the plans for a visit by the German conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz. Merz’s CDU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Scholz’s refusal to travel to Ukraine makes him an outlier after many prominent world leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have done so, said Ben Wellings, a professor at Monash University in Australia researching European politics.
The Chancellor’s Social Democrats have traditionally advocated engagement in Moscow and the development of close economic relations. “There has long been a suspicion that the Germans are simply too close to the Russians,” Wellings said, adding that Berlin’s heavy reliance on Russian fuel is partly responsible for those concerns. “There’s always been this notion that trading should basically make people friends.”
He also noted that Germany had been reluctant to provide heavy weapons in the early days of the war and had offered helmets before the 24 February invasion.
But Germany said last week it would send anti-aircraft armored vehicles to Ukraine, reversing its tradition of not sending such weapons to conflict zones.
Steinmeier has accused NATO of provoking Russia in the past and he – like other German leaders from left and right – has championed the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. The plan was scrapped in February, just before Russia invaded Ukraine, and Steinmeier has apologized for supporting the project.
Russian threats are redrawing the global energy map
Zelenskyi had repeatedly urged Germany to stop buying Russian natural gas, which it relies heavily on to heat homes. But as spring arrives and the war drags on, much of Europe is moving fast to wean itself off Russia’s fossil fuels. (Berlin recently signaled that it will back a European Union plan to phase out Russian oil.)
President Biden has not visited Kyiv amid the conflict and has no plans, the White House said, although Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose chamber will vote on a massive aid package for Ukraine, met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday, leading a delegation of other House Democrats.
Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report.