The foreign policy spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag, Jürgen Trittin, is calling on Ukraine to withdraw its cancellation of a visit to Kyiv by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “It doesn’t work like that,” Trittin told the editorial network Germany (RND).
“Declaring the German head of state, who has also just been re-elected, to be an undesirable person is a great propaganda success for Vladimir Putin.” If you want to split the Europeans, then you have to do it like the Ukrainian president. “We expect Ukraine to take that back.”
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On Tuesday evening it became known that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj apparently does not want to receive Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv. A planned trip by the Federal President to Ukraine has burst.
In the past few days, Polish President Andrzej Duda had suggested traveling to the Ukrainian capital with the heads of state of the Baltic States “to send and set a strong sign of common European solidarity with Ukraine,” said Steinmeier on Tuesday at his Visit to Warsaw. “I was ready for it. But obviously – and I have to take note of this – that was not wanted in Kyiv.”
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, an adviser to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Serhiy Leshchenko, claimed that Steinmeier had not been disinvited at all. There was no further comment from Kyiv itself. As the Tagesspiegel learned, there was a formal rejection at ambassador level.
First, the “Bild” newspaper reported that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had refused a visit by the Federal President to Kyiv. The reason for this is Steinmeier’s close ties to Russia in recent years, the newspaper wrote.
Instead, Ukraine is now inviting Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to Kyiv. “We also communicated that my President and the government would be very happy if Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Kyiv,” said the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andrij Melnyk, on Tuesday evening on ProSieben and SAT.1.
The visit should be about how Germany can help Ukraine with heavy weapons in the fight against Russia. “My President is looking forward to that,” said Melnyk.
Scholz criticizes them Steinmeier’s unloading by Ukraine as “somewhat irritating”. “The Federal President would have liked to go to the Ukraine,” Scholz said on Wednesday on the rbb info radio. “That’s why it would have been good to receive him.” Scholz did not answer the question of whether he would accept the existing invitation to Kyiv.
From 1999 to 2005, the Federal President was Gerhard Schröder’s head of the Chancellery and from 2005 to 2009 and 2013 to 2017 Federal Foreign Minister. In his previous positions he had pursued a policy of involving Russia and also supported the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. A week ago he then admitted mistakes in his Russia policy for the first time and drew a “bitter balance sheet”. He explained that he was wrong about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“My assessment was that Vladimir Putin would not accept the complete economic, political and moral ruin of his country for his imperial madness,” said Steinmeier. His adherence to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project was also clearly a mistake. “We held on to bridges that Russia no longer believed in and that our partners warned us about.”
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The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, had previously met the Federal President sharply criticized and accused him in an interview with the Tagesspiegel of having “made a spider web of contacts with Russia for decades”. Melnyk said he didn’t buy Mr. Steinmeier’s recognition of his mistakes in Russia policy. However, the sentences had fallen before Steinmeier’s admission of error.
surprise at cancellation
In Berlin, Ukraine’s actions met with astonishment. “The Federal President takes a clear and unequivocal position on the side of Ukraine,” emphasized a government spokesman.
After his re-election, Steinmeier appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin: ‘Loose the noose around Ukraine’s neck!’ and underlined that no country in the world has the right to destroy Ukraine’s self-determination and sovereignty. “Germany was and is one of the most determined supporters of Ukraine internationally and this is closely linked to the many years of work of the current Federal President,” the spokesman continued.
“The Federal President’s trip to Kyiv would have been a clear sign of solidarity in foreign policy,” SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich told the “Rheinische Post”. “I remain convinced that a visit by the Federal President could have underscored the continued support of our country,” he added.
Meanwhile, former party deputy Ralf Stegner wrote on Twitter: “A visit by our head of state to Ukraine would have expressed German solidarity with Ukraine, which was invaded by Putin’s army, especially since we are also providing enormous economic, political, humanitarian and military support in comparison.” The criticism of Steinmeier’s Russia policy lacked “political substance,” Stegner continued. Errors such as the high dependency on Russian energy supplies would be corrected.
The Hamburg SPD MP and Vice President of the Bundestag Aydan Özoğuz also commented on the short message service. She finds it irritating that Ukraine “demands pretty much everything from us, but doesn’t want to see the Federal President”.
Kubicki criticizes unloading
Deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki also criticized Steinmeier’s invitation. He has every understanding of the political leadership in Ukraine. The country is fighting for its survival. “But everything has its limits. I don’t think that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was well advised to reject the offer of such a visit, not only from Germany.” For the time being, Kubicki has ruled out a trip by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Kyiv. “I cannot imagine that the chancellor of a government supported by the FDP travels to a country that declares our country’s head of state to be an undesirable person,” he told the German Press Agency.
Hardt speaks of “heavy burden”
Union foreign policy expert Jürgen Hardt (CDU) has described Ukraine’s rejection of Steinmeier’s visit as a “serious strain” on the relationship between the two countries. Chancellor Olaf Scholz must call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj today, Hardt demanded on Wednesday in ARD’s “Morgenmagazin”.
Broken trip an embarrassment
For Steinmeier, the failed trip to Kyiv is a disgrace. He had already signaled on Friday that he had travel plans. “Of course I’m also thinking about when the right time is for my next visit to Kyiv.” These plans are now obsolete. And that despite the fact that top Western politicians are now shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The heads of government from Poland, Great Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia have already traveled to Kyiv to strengthen Ukraine’s back in the fight against the Russian attackers. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was there on Friday.
Three leading parliamentarians from the traffic light coalition arrived in Ukraine from Germany on Tuesday – not in the capital Kyiv, however, but in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. There, the chairmen of the committees for foreign affairs, defense and Europe – Michael Roth (SPD), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) and Anton Hofreiter (Greens) – wanted to meet members of the Ukrainian parliament Rada. All three politicians had recently called for more speed in arms deliveries. It is the highest-ranking German politicians who have been visiting Ukraine since the start of the war seven weeks ago. (with dpa)