In Berlin there is pretty much a consensus: these were “sham elections” in Russia, “so-called elections”. The result was clear from the start. In any case, the federal government does not recognize the Russian presidential election as legal, so there are no diplomatic greetings to Moscow. Frank-Walter Steinmeier was one of the first to make this public. He informed presidential spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin that he would not congratulate Vladimir Putin on his re-election. A statement from the Federal President on Platform Although Putin was congratulated in the last elections in 2018, they are refraining from doing so this year. That was a different situation, says Gammelin when asked South German newspaper.
Congratulations, whether in writing, by telephone or even in person, are usually given between heads of state in close diplomatic relations shortly after the election. If you know and understand each other well, it’s not far off to pick up the phone. If the relationship is more business-like, congratulations may not be sent until the inauguration. Only in exceptional cases are no congratulations given. The constitutional bodies would inform each other about their actions, says the Federal President’s spokeswoman.
The Chancellor won’t congratulate either
They were probably also in close contact with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). He won’t congratulate Putin either. The election was neither “free nor fair,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann. There was a “climate of intimidation” and there were arrests. “Russia,” Olaf Scholz has said several times, “is now a dictatorship and is ruled authoritarianly by Vladimir Putin,” said the government spokeswoman.
Putin was not only accused of election manipulation, repression, fraud and coercion in the presidential elections, but also of breaking international law. The federal government condemns the fact that Russia also held the election in the occupied territories in Ukraine, said the spokeswoman: “We of course do not recognize this in any way, and only Ukraine would have the right to hold elections on this territory. That is our assessment of this so-called election, and that is why the Chancellor did not congratulate.”
Before a meeting with her EU colleagues in Brussels on Monday morning, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also spoke of an “election without an election” in Russia. Not only does it show Putin’s “ruthless actions” against his own people, but it is also a violation of the United Nations Charter. The fact that “so-called elections” were also held in parts of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia “is contrary to international law,” said Baerbock. In view of the death of the Kremlin critic and Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, Baerbock announced a joint reaction by the EU states: punitive measures against representatives of the Russian justice system. On Monday afternoon it was confirmed that a double-digit number of people were affected. You are no longer allowed to enter the EU or do business with EU citizens. In addition, their EU accounts and other assets must be frozen.